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Synonyms

elbowroom

American  
[el-boh-room, -room] / ˈɛl boʊˌrum, -ˌrʊm /

noun

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

  2. scope; opportunity.

    a job with elbowroom.
elbowroom British  
/ -ˌrʊm, ˈɛlbəʊˌruːm /

noun

  1. sufficient scope to move or function

"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

Etymology

Origin of elbowroom

First recorded in 1530–40; elbow + 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.

This means a house on the Thames, with a boat at the bottom of the garden and plenty of elbowroom for his wife and two young daughters.

From Time Magazine Archive

With all its new elbowroom, the company danced with new grace and exuberance.

From Time Magazine Archive

It features the builder�s NU-V3 hull design for greater fuel efficiency without sacrificing performance, and it has 35 square feet of elbowroom in the cockpit.

From Time Magazine Archive

On the other hand, the Bolshoi Swan Lake provided the soloists with more elbowroom to stitch figures of gaudy and often moving brilliance.

From Time Magazine Archive

Finding himself with elbowroom for the first time, he pushed through, swung the door open and switched on the lights.

From Something New by Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)

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.