headroom

American  

[hed-room, -room] / ˈhɛdˌrum, -ˌrʊm /

Or head room

noun

1. Nautical. the clear space between two decks.

2. 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.

3. Audio. dynamic headroom.

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headroom British  

/ ˈhɛdˌrʊm, -ˌruːm /

noun

1. the height of a bridge, room, etc; clearance

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Etymology

Origin of headroom

First recorded in 1850–55; head + room

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

headroom

Here are all 26 software companies in the S&P 500 ranked by expected FCF headroom over the next 12 months, based on data and consensus estimates provided by FactSet:

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

It could also provide headroom for future growth, including supporting sales to third-party separation facilities, it says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

Done in that order, the QCD satisfies part of the RMD without adding a dollar to AGI, leaving more headroom under the Medicare surcharge tier before conversion income stacks.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

The 2026 Spring Statement left her headroom of around £24bn against meeting this goal, so £1.2bn would represent around 5% of that.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

Our house sat on concrete stilts that allowed enough headroom underneath for us to stake out play areas with clearly defined boundaries.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

Related Words

• area
• arena
• capacity
• distance
• field
• location
• slot
• spot
• territory
• zone