Word.ws English Dictionary

tally room

tally room noun: a room in which votes are counted.

Noun

tally room (plural tally rooms)

  1. A room in which votes are counted.
    • I do not say with any criminal intent as to coercing this man, but he takes him away, and he is immediately hoisted upon the shoulders of the people, and they carry him off to Mr. Whitworth′s tally-rooms;[…].1869, House of Commons, Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons, page 328
    • Because the atmosphere in the tally room can become noisy and tense, election officials must maintain order at all times so that tally teams can work efficiently and can hear the votes being read.1997, US Department of Labor, Conducting Local Union Officer Elections: A Guide for Election Officials, DIANE Publishing Company, US, page 54

Examples of tally room in a sentence

  • The Tally Room at the Electoral Commission becomes a hive of activity after 6 p.m. when the polling places close.1997, Jenni Harrold, Australian Politics, page 21:
  • In his victory speech at the Brisbane tally room in 2001 Beattie was characteristically earnest, modest, and inclusive.2005, John Wanna, Yes, Premier: Labor Leadership in Australia′s States and Territories, page 70:
  • Shortly thereafter Whitlam arrived in the tally room to accept defeat.2010, Ross Fitzgerald, Stephen Holt, Alan ‘The Red Fox’ Reid: Pressman Par Excellence, page 283:

Forms of tally room

pluraltally rooms
alternative formtally-room

Origin of tally room

From tally (“an account or score”) + room.

Questions about tally room

What does tally room mean?
Tally room means a room in which votes are counted.
How do you use tally room in a sentence?
The Tally Room at the Electoral Commission becomes a hive of activity after 6 p.m. when the polling places close.
What part of speech is tally room?
Tally room is a noun.
What is the plural of tally room?
The plural of tally room is tally rooms.

Words near tally room in the dictionary

  1. tally hos
  2. tally light
  3. tally mark
  4. tally marks
  5. tally on
  6. tally room
  7. tally rooms
  8. tally shop
  9. tally shops
  10. tally stick
  11. tally sticks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tally room (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “tally room.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tally_room. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.