A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and it is an alternative name for a living room. The name is derived from the 16th-century terms withdrawing room and withdrawing chamber, which remained in use through the 17th century. During the American Civil War, in the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia, the drawing room was off the parlor where CSA President Jefferson Davis greeted his guests. At the conclusion of these greetings, the men remained in the parlor to talk politics, and the women withdrew to the drawing room for their own conversation. This was common practice in the affluent circles of the Southern United States.

The term "drawing room" is not used as widely as it once was, and tends to be used in Britain only by those who also have other reception rooms, such as a morning room, a 19th-century designation for a sitting room, often with east-facing exposure, suited for daytime calls, or the middle-class lounge, a late-19th-century designation for a room in which to relax. Hence the drawing room is the smartest room in the house, usually used by the adults of the family when entertaining.

The drawing room, being a room in the house to entertain visitors, gave its name to drawing room plays, a genre of theatrical productions and motion pictures. The drawing room play has evolved to encompass comedy as well as to include the forms of the dramatic.

In summary, a drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and it is an alternative name for a living room. It is typically used by the adults of the family when entertaining guests, and it has given its name to a genre of theatrical productions and motion pictures.