commodious

American  

[kuh-moh-dee-uhs] / kəˈmoʊ di əs /

adjective

1. spacious and convenient; roomy.

   a commodious apartment.

2. ample or adequate for a particular purpose.

   a commodious harbor.

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commodious British  

/ kəˈməʊdɪəs /

adjective

1. (of buildings, rooms, etc) large and roomy; spacious

2. archaic suitable; convenient

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Other Word Forms

• commodiously
  adverb
• commodiousness
  noun
• noncommodious
  adjective
• noncommodiously
  adverb
• noncommodiousness
  noun
• uncommodious
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of commodious

1375–1425; late Middle English < Medieval Latin commodiōsus, equivalent to Latin commodi ( tās ) convenience ( see commodity) + -ōsus -ous

Explanation

If your house has a big and comfortable living room, you could say that you have a commodious space for entertaining. Commodious means roomy. Yes, you see the word, commode — i.e. toilet — in commodious. Both words once had the meaning of convenience attached to them from their Latin roots. Indoor plumbing is in fact convenient when you compare it with the alternative as is having room to spare. But that meaning was left behind years ago.

Example Sentences

Commodious spiral stairs tend to be more like 60 inches in diameter — but you’ll still find each tread narrowing to a sliver at the newel.

From New York Times • Mar. 7, 2019

By these means the opportunity was lost of making the new City the most magnificent, as well as Commodious for Health and Trade, of any on Earth.

From Time Magazine Archive

Commodious for a Haven made, Under a rising Bank, Nature has fix’d a Place of Trade, To Men of any Rank.

From The Merry-Thought: or the Glass-Window and Bog-House Miscellany Parts 2, 3 and 4 by Novak, Maximillian E.

Commodious farm-houses on every hand and evidences of plenty everywhere, we reveled in the richness and overflowing abundance of the land.

From Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman With Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade in the Civil War by Kidd, James Harvey

Near his own stage door he bumps into Commodious Rotunda, the stout comedian of the comic theater, and they pause to swap the latest Lambs' Club repartee.

From Europe Revised by Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)