bedchamber

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableold-fashionedliterary

   A room used for sleeping, especially one in a palace, castle, or grand old house.

   Grammar: Countable, so it takes a/an and a plural: a bedchamber, several bedchambers.

   Patterns

   • a royal bedchamber
   • the king's bedchamber
   • a private bedchamber

   The queen's bedchamber was hung with heavy red curtains.

   In the story, the princess sleeps in a small bedchamber at the top of the tower.

   Visitors can look into the bedchamber where the duke died.

2. 2nouncountableold-fashionedliterary

   A bedroom in a house, used when describing homes of the past in an old-fashioned or literary way.

   Grammar: Countable and slightly formal; in modern speech bedroom is the normal word.

   Patterns

   • an upstairs bedchamber
   • the main bedchamber

   The old house had four bedchambers and a wide wooden staircase.

   She led us up to a narrow bedchamber with a single window.

Word forms

Common combinations

royal bedchamber

Only servants were allowed into the royal bedchamber.

private bedchamber

He kept his letters locked in a private bedchamber.

the master's bedchamber

The master's bedchamber was the largest room in the house.

retire to one's bedchamber

After dinner, the guests retired to their bedchambers.

a candlelit bedchamber

The candlelit bedchamber looked warm and inviting.

Synonyms and how they differ

bedroom

The everyday modern word; use it in normal speech and writing, and keep bedchamber for historical or literary settings.

chamber

An old word for a room in general, not necessarily for sleeping; it appears in the same kinds of historical texts.

Word family

bedchamber noun

The only common form; there is no widely used adjective or verb from it.

Commonly confused: bedchamber or bedroom? bedchamber or antechamber?

Practice

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