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elbowroom

[ el-boh-room, -room ]
/ ˈɛl boʊˌrum, -ˌrʊm /
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See synonyms for elbowroom on Thesaurus.com
noun
ample room; space in which to move freely.
scope; opportunity: a job with elbowroom.
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Origin of elbowroom

First recorded in 1530–40; elbow + room

Words nearby elbowroom

elbow, elbow-bender, elbow bump, elbow catch, elbow grease, elbowroom, Elbrus, Elburz Mountains, El Cajon, El Campo, El Capitan
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to elbowroom

amount, breadth, degree, duration, expansion, intensity, length, matter, measure, quantity, scope, size, term, ability, exemption, flexibility, immunity, opportunity, power, privilege

How to use elbowroom in a sentence

  • A State of unbounded plains and hills and Badlands—elbowroom.

    North Dakota|Various

  • For the newspaper fellows they rigged up elbowroom accommodations of bench and table against the base of the judges' kiosk.

    Those Times And These|Irvin S. Cobb

  • Tellsons wanted not elbowroom, Tellsons wanted no light, Tellsons wanted no embellishment.

    An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises|George Lyman Kittredge

British Dictionary definitions for elbowroom

elbowroom
/ (ˈɛlbəʊˌruːm, -ˌrʊm) /
noun
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

Other Idioms and Phrases with elbowroom

elbow room

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]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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