- room
- room n 1 Room, chamber, apartment all denote space in a building enclosed or set apart by a partition.Room is the word in ordinary use.Chamber is somewhat elevated; it is used chiefly of a private room, especially of a bedroom on an upper floor{
high in her chamber up a tower to the east— Tennyson
}{he . . . hardly ever slept two nights successively in one chamber— Southey
}Apartment is decreasingly frequent in the sense of a single room{her morning room was an airy apartment on the first floor— Braddon
}2 Room, berth, play, elbowroom, leeway, margin, clearance can all mean enough space or scope for free movement.Room, the general term, often means sufficient or ample space for doing something (as working, growing or developing, sitting, passing, or entering or leaving){space is room . . . and room is roominess, a chance to be, live and move— Dewey
}But the word may also mean an occasion, an opportunity, or an opening that admits or permits something{there is room for hope
}{believing Mexico's behavior left no room for peaceful settlement— Billington
}{in search of a wider naturalism which will find room for life, mind, and spirit within the scheme of nature— Inge
}Berth, basically a nautical term meaning maneuvering space for a ship, in more general use denotes a space kept between one and some source of potential danger{an orderly place to which outlaws and criminals gave wide berth— Holbrook
}Play (see also PLAY, FUN) can specifically imply freedom of movement and action especially with reference to two or more things which must work together in close relation or without interference or conflict{some play must be allowed to the joints if the machine is to work— Justice Holmes
}{the free play of passion and thought . . . were crushed out of existence under this stern and rigid rule— Dickinson
}Elbowroom does not greatly differ from room except that it is somewhat more forceful and definitely implies freedom from interference or constraint as well as space for movement or for action{which would give him more elbowroom to act against France— Chesterfield
}Leeway, basically a nautical term meaning the drift to leeward especially of a sailing vessel, in its closest extended sense means a falling off from the line of progress and therefore may connote something (as a shortage) to be made up{Africa has been late in its emergence into modern civilization and it has still considerable leeway to make up— Simnett
}More frequently, however, leeway tends to mean room or margin for freedom of action{educational programs . . . must allow leeway for interests which can develop into avocations— Sat. Review
}{the president was given wide leeway in deciding what constituted a threat to public safety— C. E. Black & K. D. White
}{he asked his creditors to allow him a little leeway
}Margin (see also BORDER) implies an amount (as of time, money, or material) additionally allowed or made available so as to provide for contingencies or emergencies which cannot be foreseen{the King, in his instructions, left a wide margin of discretion to the generals— Froude
}{an enormous margin of luxury . . . against which we can draw for our vital needs— Lippmann
}Clearance stresses lack of obstruction.Typically it implies a carefully calculated amount of space between two physical objects such as the water level and the underside of a bridge, or a roadway and the underside of a viaduct above it, or a shaft and the hole into which it is fitted easily but not loosely{the railway tunnel has just sufficient clearance to permit passage of the new freight cars
}Sometimes it may apply to intangible obstructions and then stress removal (as by the satisfying of legal or official requirements) rather than planned avoidance{security clearance of those with access to secret atomic information— Palfrey
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
