chamber

[ cheym-ber ]

/ ˈtʃeɪm bər /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for: chamber / chambered / chambering / chambers on Thesaurus.com

noun

a room, usually private, in a house or apartment, especially a bedroom: She retired to her chamber.

a room in a palace or official residence.

the meeting hall of a legislative or other assembly.

chambers, Law.

a place where a judge hears matters not requiring action in open court.
the private office of a judge.
(in England) the quarters or rooms that lawyers use to consult with their clients, especially in the Inns of Court.

a legislative, judicial, or other like body: the upper or the lower chamber of a legislature.

an organization of individuals or companies for a specified purpose.

the place where the moneys due a government are received and kept; a treasury or chamberlain's office.

(in early New England) any bedroom above the ground floor, generally named for the ground-floor room beneath it.

a compartment or enclosed space; cavity: a chamber of the heart.

(in a canal or the like) the space between any two gates of a lock.

a receptacle for one or more cartridges in a firearm, or for a shell in a gun or other cannon.

(in a gun) the part of the barrel that receives the charge.

chamber pot.

adjective

of, relating to, or performing chamber music: chamber players.

verb (used with object)

to put or enclose in, or as in, a chamber.

to provide with a chamber.

QUIZ

ALL IN FAVO(U)R OF THIS BRITISH VS. AMERICAN ENGLISH QUIZ

There's an ocean of difference between the way people speak English in the US vs. the UK. Are your language skills up to the task of telling the difference? Let's find out!

Question 1 of 7

True or false? British English and American English are only different when it comes to slang words.

true

false

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of chamber

1175–1225; Middle English chambre<Old French <Latin camera, variant of camara vaulted room, vault <Greek kamára

OTHER WORDS FROM chamber

un·der·cham·ber, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use chamber in a sentence

His win is another crucial victory for Republicans as the party seeks to maintain control of the chamber, which will now be determined by a pair of January runoff elections in Georgia.
Georgia announces hand audit|Felicia Sonmez, Colby Itkowitz, John Wagner, Derek Hawkins|November 12, 2020|Washington Post
Democrats failed to pick up any state legislative chambers this November, and they could face the consequences of that for the next decade.
Where Democrats will be locked out of power in redistricting battles next year|Amber Phillips|November 11, 2020|Washington Post
So that leaves the two Senate seats from Georgia to determine control of the chamber in a rare double-barreled runoff election nearly two months from now.
Georgia’s Runoffs Will Determine Control Of The Senate. Here’s What We Know So Far.|Nathaniel Rakich (nathaniel.rakich@fivethirtyeight.com)|November 11, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
All in all, the results mean Republicans will control 59 out of the country’s 98 partisan chambers—Nebraska has just one nonpartisan legislative chamber.
Democrats suffer big losses in state legislatures during a crucial year for redistricting|Aric Jenkins|November 5, 2020|Fortune

Besides becoming the highest-ranking nonbinary official in the country, Turner will also be the first practicing Muslim elected to the Oklahoma state legislature, which in 2019 blocked an imam from conducting the chamber’s daily prayer.
A Muslim millennial was elected the country’s first out nonbinary lawmaker — in Oklahoma|Teo Armus|November 5, 2020|Washington Post
Wouldst thou make my watch a pretext for ungodly chambering and profane love passages?
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 354, April 1845|Various
All the money earned by prisoners was at their own disposal, and was spent almost habitually in drink, chambering, and wantonness.
The Chronicles of Newgate, v. 2/2|Arthur Griffiths
The chambering machine is used only in clay or other soil which does not wash readily.
Concrete Construction|Halbert P. Gillette
Did you examine the cartridge cases for chambering marks, extraction marks, or ejection marks?
Warren Commission (3 of 26): Hearings Vol. III (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
And are you able to say definitely whether it is an extractor or an ejection mark or a chambering mark?
Warren Commission (3 of 26): Hearings Vol. III (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy

British Dictionary definitions for chamber

chamber

/ (ˈtʃeɪmbə) /

noun

a meeting hall, esp one used for a legislative or judicial assembly

a reception room or audience room in an official residence, palace, etc

archaic, or poetic a room in a private house, esp a bedroom

a legislative, deliberative, judicial, or administrative assembly
any of the houses of a legislature

an enclosed space; compartment; cavitythe smallest chamber in the caves

the space between two gates of the locks of a canal, dry dock, etc

an enclosure for a cartridge in the cylinder of a revolver or for a shell in the breech of a cannon

obsolete a place where the money of a government, corporation, etc, was stored; treasury

short for chamber pot

NZ the freezing room in an abattoir

(modifier) of, relating to, or suitable for chamber musica chamber concert

verb

(tr) to put in or provide with a chamber

Word Origin for chamber

C13: from Old French chambre, from Late Latin camera room, Latin: vault, from Greek kamara

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

chamber

Origin of chamber

OTHER WORDS FROM chamber

Words related to chamber

How to use chamber in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for chamber

Word Origin for chamber