compartment
Americannoun
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a part or space marked or partitioned off.
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a separate room, section, etc..
a baggage compartment.
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U.S. Railroads. a private bedroom with toilet facilities.
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a separate aspect, function, or the like.
the compartments of the human mind.
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Architecture. a distinct major division of a design.
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Heraldry. a decorative base, as a grassy mound, on which the supporters of an escutcheon stand or rest.
verb (used with object)
noun
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one of the sections into which an area, esp an enclosed space, is divided or partitioned
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any separate part or section
a compartment of the mind
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a small storage space; locker
Other Word Forms
- compartmental adjective
- compartmentally adverb
Etymology
Origin of compartment
1555–65; < Middle French compartiment < Italian compartimento. See compart, -ment
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I stood as far back as I could in the snug compartment and grimaced my way through it.
From Los Angeles Times
For food, families often gorge themselves on special "Party Barrels" bursting with chicken, an array of side dishes and a dessert -- such as ice cream or cheesecake -- stored at the bottom in a separate compartment.
From Barron's
"As safety measures have improved, a certain amount of weight had to be added on to vehicles to strengthen up safety compartments because they weren't that strong back then."
From BBC
The crash should have flooded just two of the boat's six watertight compartments, but a missing door meant that three were compromised, dooming the vessel.
From Barron's
According to Dr. Neville Armstrong, the Commission’s expert, fitting a watertight door to the access opening separating the tank room and the steering gear compartment would have prevented the immediate sinking of the Lamma IV.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
