vestibule

American  

[ves-tuh-byool] / ˈvɛs təˌbjul /

noun

vestibules plural

1. a passage, hall, or antechamber between the outer door and the interior parts of a house or building.

2. Railroads. an enclosed space at the end of a passenger car, serving as a sheltered entrance to the car from another car or from outside the train.

3. Anatomy, Zoology. any of various cavities or hollows regarded as forming an approach or entrance to another cavity or space, as that of the internal ear.

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verb (used with object)

vestibuled, vestibuling

1. to provide with a vestibule.

vestibule British  

/ vɛˈstɪbjʊlə, ˈvɛstɪˌbjuːl /

noun

1. a small entrance hall or anteroom; lobby

2. any small bodily cavity or space at the entrance to a passage or canal

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vestibule Scientific  

/ vĕs′tə-byo̅o̅l′ /

1. An oval cavity in the inner ear that together with the semicircular canals makes up the organ that maintains equilibrium in vertebrates.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• vestibular
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• vestibules
  plural

Etymology

Origin of vestibule

First recorded in 1615–25, vestibule is from the Latin word vestibulum forecourt, entrance

Explanation

A vestibule is a little area just inside the main door of a building, but before a second door. You often find vestibules in churches, because they help keep heat from escaping every time someone enters or exits. The noun vestibule, pronounced "VES-tih-bule," probably comes from the Latin word vestibulum, which means “entrance court.” From about 1880 to 1930 vestibules were popular features in new homes because they create an additional barrier that keeps heat or cool air in and street noise out. If you have a vestibule, you can hang coats and leave shoes and gloves there instead of bringing them into the living room, kitchen and so on.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vestibule vestibules vestibuled

Students frantically flee between the desks and down the stairs; the Bridegroom’s parents argue in a vestibule; the Waitress and Markéta, on different levels, recall that last morning as though in a dream.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026

For now, we were in a vestibule of hope: It was rumor, not fact, I told them and myself.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2025

Taking the photographs in a vestibule at the end of a carriage, Edwards taped a large bag to the opposite window to reduce the glare - though the train conductor was not so happy.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2024

Julia Andreasen, a graduate student at UM, was trapped in her tent for 24 hours after drifting snow buried the vestibule.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 18, 2024

She talked her way to the door, through the vestibule, and into the box.

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson

Others rise from the open-air vestibules of the suites.

From New York Times ● Sep. 27, 2022

Some schools had security vestibules at their entrances and buzz-in systems to get inside from the outdoors.

From Salon ● May 27, 2022

In fact, Ruthroff says, vestibules first became popular architectural features during the Spanish flu pandemic a century ago.

From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2022

People lie under the seats in sleeper cars and crouch in the hallways or in the vestibules between train cars.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 20, 2020

Despite Pullman’s vestibules ice as fine as dust settled between coaches and filled Burnham’s train with the tang of deep winter.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

The walls and ceiling were absolutely tight, the windows and vestibuled door screened and all precautions taken to prevent the entrance of insects.

From Popular Science Monthly Oct, Nov, Dec, 1915 — Volume 86 by Anonymous

It was a wearisome task, especially when Wallace accompanied her, for his tastes ran to expensive and vestibuled apartments and fashionable streets.

From Martie, the Unconquered by Norris, Kathleen Thompson

To our English cousins these ships were at first as much of a curiosity as our vestibuled trains were a few years since.

From American Merchant Ships and Sailors by Abbot, Willis J. (Willis John)

How gracefully, easily, she lifted the huge, vestibuled train from swale to swell.

From Snow on the Headlight A Story of the Great Burlington Strike by Warman, Cy

The first vestibuled trains in which the platforms were enclosed, were built under his supervision under what are known to-day as the “Sessions Patents.”

From The Story of the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg RailRoad by Hungerford, Edward

Related Words

• doorway
• foyer
• hallway
• porch