elbow room

1. Enough space to move about, as in Two hundred on the stage? There won't be any elbow room. This term alludes to having enough room to extend one's elbows. [Late 1500s]

Example Sentences

Moderating inflation will give the RBI further elbow room to slash borrowing costs, according to several brokerages, as growth momentum further loses steam due to Trump's global trade war.

From BBC

But conventional accelerators require plenty of elbow room -- kilometers -- making them expensive and limiting their presence to a handful of national labs and universities.

From Science Daily

They're a little bit more irritated because they don't have any elbow room, where somebody puts the tray down in front of them and they're irritated because they don't have space.

From Salon

Yet there is also elbow room within those parameters, and on “Blackbraid II” you can hear a delicately strummed acoustic guitar here, a traditional flute there.

From New York Times

Despite the lack of elbow room, they were busy tossing torn bits of paper over the side, creating a steady rain of confetti onto the "greatest and most significant" parade in New York City's history.

From Literature

Related Words

• breathing space 
• latitude