Meanings
plural mess halls
- USA military dining room or building on an army or marine base.
In the mess hall, lunch was served in plastic bowls and paper cups: rice with ragù, sausage soup with day-old bread.
2022 December 7, Simon Shuster, “2022 Person of the Year: Volodymyr Zelensky”, in TIME, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2023Synonyms: chow hall, dining hall, dining facility, DFAC
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA military dining room or building on an army or marine base.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna (large) military dining room where service personnel eat or relax
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From mess (“military meal”) + hall.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek συσσίτια, φιδίτιον
- συσσίτια (sussítia)military dining room
- φιδίτιον (phidítion)military dining room
Bulgarian столова
- столова (stolova)military dining room
Finnish kanttiini, muonituskeskus
- kanttiinimilitary dining room
- muonituskeskusmilitary dining room
Icelandic matsalur
- matsalurmilitary dining room
Irish bialann
- bialannmilitary dining room
Russian столо́вая
- столо́вая (stolóvaja)military dining room
Spanish comedor militar, cantina
- comedor militarmilitary dining room
- cantinamilitary dining room
- comedormilitary dining room
Cite this entry
mess hall. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mess%20hall
“mess hall.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mess%20hall. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mess hall,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mess%20hall.
Source: mess hall on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.