Meaning & use
antechamber
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Meanings
nouncountableformal
A small room that people pass through or wait in before entering a larger, more important room.
Grammar: Has a plural: the palace has several antechambers.
Patterns
- in the antechamber
- an antechamber to something
Guests waited in the antechamber until the king was ready.
The antechamber was lined with portraits of past judges.
A small antechamber leads into the main tomb.
nouncountablefigurativeliterary
A stage or place that leads to something more important, used figuratively.
Grammar: Usually followed by to: an antechamber to power.
Patterns
- an antechamber to something
For many young lawyers, the clerkship is an antechamber to the bench.
The junior role served as an antechamber to the top job.
The quiet town felt like an antechamber to the wilderness beyond.
Word forms
| plural | antechambers |
|---|
Common combinations
- wait in the antechamber
- Visitors must wait in the antechamber until called.
- royal antechamber
- A royal antechamber opened onto the throne room.
- enter the antechamber
- She entered the antechamber and straightened her coat.
- antechamber of the tomb
- The antechamber of the tomb held jars and tools.
- antechamber to
- The outer office is an antechamber to the director's study.
Synonyms and how they differ
- anteroom
- Anteroom is almost identical but a little more common and less grand than antechamber.
- vestibule
- Vestibule suggests an entrance hall or lobby, often just inside the outer door.
- waiting room
- Waiting room is everyday English and has no sense of grandeur, unlike antechamber.
- foyer
- Foyer is a lobby of a hotel or theater, not a private room leading to a ruler.
Word family
Commonly confused: antechamber or antechamber vs. anti-chamber?
antechamber vs antechamber vs. anti-chamber
The prefix is ante-, meaning before, not anti-, meaning against.
Practice
Before meeting the president, the delegates waited in a small ___ outside the Oval Office.
Choose one answer.
An antechamber is a small room leading into a larger one. The other options are unsuitable places to wait outside an office.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “antechamber”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.