Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

elbowroom

American  
[el-boh-room, -room] / ˈɛl boʊˌrum, -ˌrʊm /

noun

  1. ample room; space in which to move freely.

  2. scope; opportunity.

    a job with elbowroom.
elbowroom British  
/ -ˌrʊm, ˈɛlbəʊˌruːm /

noun

  1. sufficient scope to move or function

"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

Etymology

Origin of elbowroom

First recorded in 1530–40; elbow + room

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.

By war's end, father Jay was moving aside to give Harsen plenty of elbowroom, and Harsen's ideas were to expand.

From Time Magazine Archive

While winning elbowroom at the men's bar, she has lost her seat in the subway.

From Time Magazine Archive

This means a house on the Thames, with a boat at the bottom of the garden and plenty of elbowroom for his wife and two young daughters.

From Time Magazine Archive

He felt cramped in his constitutional compartment of powers, looked for elbowroom.

From Time Magazine Archive

You're slick, and they ain't elbowroom enough in the West for slick gents.

From The Rangeland Avenger by Brand, Max

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.