headroom

or head room

[hed-room, -roo m]

See more synonyms for headroom on Thesaurus.com

noun

Nautical. the clear space between two decks.
Also called headway.
1. clear vertical space, as between the head and sill of a doorway, the ceiling and floor of a room, or the ceiling of a vehicular passageway and a vehicle roof, as to allow passage or comfortable occupancy: over 7.5 feet of headroom in the attic; a covered bridge with limited headroom.
2. clear vertical space above one’s head, as in a vehicle or room: plenty of headroom for passengers.
Audio. dynamic headroom.

Origin of headroom

First recorded in 1850–55; head + room

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for headroom

slot, arena, capacity, zone, area, spot, field, location, territory, distance, clearance, expanse, breadth, omission, headway, compass, sphere, leeway, blank, stretch

Examples from the Web for headroom

Contemporary Examples of headroom

Even given the extraordinary growth off the high base it is putting up, Amazon still has plenty of headroom.
Amazon Stock May Be Up, but the Company Still Doesn’t Make Any Money
Daniel Gross
October 25, 2013
So the Treasury Department did some fancy footwork and found some headroom by halting payments into government pension plans.
What You Need to Know About the Debt Ceiling
David A. Graham
July 12, 2011

Historical Examples of headroom

The result was a pleasant airy compartment with headroom even for Roger.
The Forbidden Trail
Honor Willsie
The headroom between the subway roof and the surface of the street was 4.75 feet.
The New York Subway
Anonymous
This roof was level with the bank of the hedge and gave about four feet of headroom.
The Fifth Battalion Highland Light Infantry in the War 1914-1918
F.L. Morrison
In order to get headroom there is 'trunk' 'rise' on the deck, as shown on the cross-section drawing, 18 in.
Yachting Vol. 2
Various.
Plenty of headroom has always been my cry; I believe that where it is attended to there is very rarely an accident.
Riding for Ladies
Mrs. Power O'Donoghue

British Dictionary definitions for headroom

headroom

headway

noun

the height of a bridge, room, etc; clearance

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

Word Origin and History for headroom

"space above the head," 1851, from head (n.) + room (n.).