foyer
Americannoun
-
foyers
plural
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the lobby of a theater, hotel, or apartment house.
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a vestibule or entrance hall in a house or apartment.
noun
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a hall, lobby, or anteroom, used for reception and as a meeting place, as in a hotel, theatre, cinema, etc
-
(in Britain) a centre providing accommodation and employment training, etc. for homeless young people
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of foyer
1855–60; < French: fireplace, hearth (originally a room to which theater audiences went for warmth between the acts) < Gallo-Latin *focārium, equivalent to Latin foc ( us ) hearth ( cf. focus) + -ārium -arium
Explanation
A foyer is a large entrance, like the foyer of a building that you enter before you reach the elevators. Sometimes a foyer is also called a "lobby." Foyer originally was a term in French that referred to the room where actors waited when they were not on stage. Today, a foyer is a large entrance to a building or home. The bigger and fancier a mansion, office or apartment building is, the bigger and more ornate the foyer will likely be. After all, the foyer will be the first room that visitors see when entering.
Vocabulary lists containing foyer
The Catcher in the Rye
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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.
See Examples For:
Those who are not there to research can still visit a foyer space which hosts free temporary exhibitions.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Upon entering the home, guests are greeted with an elegant foyer, which boasts an elegant staircase and tile floors.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
The 300-year-old building was converted into an 82-seat theatre, with surrounding corridors used to create a foyer and backstage area.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
The stately foyer, adorned with granite, murals and statuary, would be kept intact and open to all.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
The doors to the gym off the foyer fling open.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
The Barbican's distinctive brutalist foyers and lakeside terrace will also be developed to protect the heritage of the building.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
People are going to cinemas now, and at the end people stand up and applaud and talk about the movie in the foyers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2024
In cities including Chicago, New York and Denver, migrants who have no access to work permits sleep in police station foyers and in airports.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 5, 2024
The route passes through foyers, porticos, libraries and a ballroom in which they hear a lively period waltz.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 18, 2022
These buildings have elevators in them, and wide foyers with plants, and are called things like The Monte Carlo.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
