tokonoma
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of tokonoma
1895–1900; < Japanese, equivalent to toko (raised) floor + -no grammatical particle + ma room
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.
Set in a garden among plum and kiwi trees, the cottage has traditional tatami mats, shoji-paper and fusuma sliding doors, chunky wooden cabinets and tokonoma alcoves.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 18, 2023
The third wall, a solid one of smoke-blue plaster, held the niche called "tokonoma," where pictures are hung and flower vases set.
From The Dragon Painter by Mary McNeil Fenollosa
Nothing broke the sameness of these rooms except the double alcove, or tokonoma with its inevitable hanging picture, its inevitable ornament, and its spray of blossom.
From Kimono by John Paris
In her tokonoma she had just hung up a Japanese painting representing a moonlight scene.
From Lafcadio Hearn by Nina H. Kennard
In this second tokonoma was a pearl-grey vase, and that was all.
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling
Definitions 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.