elbowroom

[el-boh-room, -room]

noun

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

2. scope; opportunity.

   a job with elbowroom.

elbowroom

/ -ˌrʊm, ˈɛlbəʊˌruːm /

noun

1. sufficient scope to move or function

Word History and Origins

Origin of elbowroom¹

First recorded in 1530–40; elbow + room

Example Sentences

"The space is expansive and really allows for the breathing and elbowroom to engage with exhibitors and discover new books."

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Dinner may be late, there may be little elbowroom, the turkey may even be charred — and they’ll still like you.

Read more on Washington Post

Elbowroom is fine if you are sitting next to your sweaty uncle on the way to mom’s funeral.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

That would account for the additional elbowroom.

Read more on New York Times

The Spanish colonies in America proved at this time that the distance which separated them from the mother country, and the greater sense of space and elbowroom which they enjoyed and in which several generations of their people had been born, was beginning to differentiate the Spanish Americans from their kinsmen in old Spain.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• amount 
• breadth 
• degree 
• duration 
• expansion 
• intensity 
• length 
• matter 
• measure 
• quantity 
• scope 
• size 
• term