anteroom

American  

[an-tee-room, -room] / ˈæn tiˌrum, -ˌrʊm /

noun

1. a room that admits to a larger room.

2. a waiting room.

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anteroom British  

/ -ˌrʊm, ˈæntɪˌruːm /

noun

1. a room giving entrance to a larger room, often used as a waiting room

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Etymology

Origin of anteroom

First recorded in 1755–65; ante- + room

Explanation

An anteroom is a small room or entryway leading to a larger area. You might wait with a tour group in an anteroom before beginning your tour of a castle. You can use the word anteroom as a fancy, old-fashioned way to say "waiting room" or "vestibule." Museum visitors might pause in an anteroom before entering a large gallery, and the butler in an old movie might say, "Please wait in the anteroom." Another word for an anteroom is an antechamber — in fact the French root of both is antichambre, from the Latin anticamera, "room in front."

Example Sentences

Those plans included improvements to the roof, replacement lanterns and internal works to rooms including the south anteroom and dining areas.

From BBC • May 14, 2026

He wasn’t a man to sit idly in death’s anteroom, awaiting the grim reaper.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026

Elliott notes that a Picasso painting hangs in the anteroom of a prominent political family’s Washington, D.C., bathroom.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 30, 2025

The manager and another staffer ushered her mother and sister into an anteroom that wasn't large enough for the three of them and peppered Ani with questions about her mother's mental stability.

From Salon • Dec. 6, 2024

At the bottom of the stairs, in an anteroom, he found Levant slowly paging through the Saturday Evening Post beside a kerosene floor heater.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

Related Words

• entrance
• foyer
• gallery
• hallway
• lobby
• room
• rotunda