ANTECHAMBER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does antechamber mean? 

• ANTECHAMBER (noun)
  The noun ANTECHAMBER has 1 sense:

1. a large entrance or reception room or area

  Familiarity information: ANTECHAMBER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ANTECHAMBER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A large entrance or reception room or area

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

antechamber; anteroom; entrance hall; foyer; hall; lobby; vestibule

Hypernyms ("antechamber" is a kind of...):

room (an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "antechamber"):

narthex (a vestibule leading to the nave of a church)

Holonyms ("antechamber" is a part of...):

building; edifice (a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place)

 Context examples 

They set forward; and, with a grandeur of air, a dignified step, which caught the eye, but could not shake the doubts of the well-read Catherine, he led the way across the hall, through the common drawing-room and one useless antechamber, into a room magnificent both in size and furniture—the real drawing-room, used only with company of consequence.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Nothing angered and mortified me so much as the queen’s dwarf; who being of the lowest stature that was ever in that country (for I verily think he was not full thirty feet high), became so insolent at seeing a creature so much beneath him, that he would always affect to swagger and look big as he passed by me in the queen’s antechamber, while I was standing on some table talking with the lords or ladies of the court, and he seldom failed of a smart word or two upon my littleness; against which I could only revenge myself by calling him brother, challenging him to wrestle, and such repartees as are usually in the mouths of court pages.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)