Meaning & use
ante-room
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A small room that leads into a larger or more important room, where visitors wait or gather.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'an ante-room', 'two ante-rooms'. It is often written as one word, 'anteroom'.
Patterns
- in the ante-room
- an ante-room to something
Guests waited in the ante-room until the king was ready to receive them.
The doctor's office had a small ante-room where patients sat before their appointments.
A narrow ante-room connects the hallway to the main conference hall.
Word forms
| plural | ante-rooms |
|---|
Common combinations
- wait in the ante-room
- We waited in the ante-room while the committee finished its meeting.
- a small ante-room
- A small ante-room separated the lobby from the dining room.
- the ante-room to the ballroom
- The ante-room to the ballroom was filled with coats and umbrellas.
Synonyms and how they differ
- waiting room
- More common in everyday speech, especially for doctors' offices and stations; 'ante-room' sounds grander and older.
- foyer
- A foyer is an entrance hall in a public building or theater; an ante-room is a smaller room leading to a main room.
- vestibule
- A vestibule is a small entrance area just inside a door; an ante-room is more often a waiting or gathering space before a larger room.
Word family
- anteroom noun
- The same word spelled as one word, now the more common form in American English.
Commonly confused: ante-room or anteroom? ante-room or antechamber?
ante-room vs anteroom
This is just the one-word spelling of the same thing; both are correct, but 'anteroom' is more usual today.
ante-room vs antechamber
An antechamber is a similar room, but the word is even more formal and old-fashioned than 'ante-room'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'ante-room' correctly?
Choose one answer.
An ante-room is a small room before a larger one, so 'gathered in the ante-room before entering the main hall' fits. The other options describe activities that do not match the function of an ante-room.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ante-room”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.