entrance

entrance n Entrance, entry, entree, ingress, access are comparable when meaning the act, fact, or privilege of going in or coming in. All but entree also carry the denotation of a way or means of entering. Their differences are largely in their applications and in their connotations.

Entrance is the widest in its range of application and the thinnest in its specific implications; it fits in with nearly every context

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await the entrance of the king

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a season ticket gives you entrance to all the events

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the entrance is through a gate south of the stadium

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gained their entrance to the game through a hole in the fence

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Entry, by comparison, typically imputes a formal or ceremonial character to the act of entering

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the trumpet will announce the Nuncio's entry— Browning

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When used with reference to a place where one enters, it usually signifies a door, a gate, a portico, or more commonly a vestibule or entrance hall

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the postman throws the letters in the entry

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I hear a knocking at the south entry— Shak.

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It has largely yielded its meaning of the privilege or right of entrance to entrée. The latter word, however, is usually restricted in its application and suggests exclusiveness in those admitting or distinction or social gifts in those admitted

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my mother's introductions had procured me the entrée of the best French houses— Lytton

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commented on the entrée which his son had with the president— New Republic

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Ingress, because of legal use, carries more than any of the others the implication either of permission to enter or of encroachment

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his deed gives him use of the path with free ingress and egress

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we pardon it; and for your ingress here upon the skirt and fringe of our fair land— Tennyson

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it puts a great strain on an armadillo to open his mouth wide enough to permit the ingress of a copper cent edgewise— G. S. Perry

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When used concretely it more often suggests a natural passageway than an architectural structure

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a narrow gap is the only ingress to the valley

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Access, like ingress, implies admission where barriers are imposed, but they may be of many kinds: social, legal, or personal, as well as natural

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he is here at the door and importunes access to you— Shak.

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Access is distinguished from the other words of this group by its emphasis on approach rather than on entrance

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explorers still find the North Pole difficult of access, in spite of their use of airplanes

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the access to the harbor was through a long narrow channel

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Antonyms: exit

entrance vb *transport, ravish, enrapture

Analogous words: delight, gladden, rejoice, *please: enchant, captivate, bewitch, charm (see ATTRACT)