Meaning & use
chest height
Last updated
Meanings
phrasefixed phrase
The level of a standing person's chest, used to describe how high something is.
Grammar: Comes after a noun or after 'at': a rail at chest height; reach chest height.
Patterns
- at chest height
- something is chest height
- raise something to chest height
The water in the pool comes up to chest height on most adults.
He hung the mirror at chest height so the children could see themselves.
The fence is about chest height, so you can easily look over it.
phrasebefore a noun
A height equal to the chest of a particular person, used as a way to measure or compare.
Grammar: Used before a noun to describe an object or position: a chest-height shelf, a chest-height bar.
Patterns
- a chest-height shelf
- a chest-height wall
- chest-height water
The gym has chest-height bars for stretching exercises.
Workers built a chest-height barrier around the machines.
She stood in chest-height snow and could barely move her legs.
Common combinations
- at chest height
- Hold the ball at chest height before you throw it.
- come up to chest height
- The floodwater came up to chest height in the street.
- chest-height water
- They waded through chest-height water to reach the house.
- raise something to chest height
- Raise the bar to chest height, then lower it slowly.
- chest-height shelf
- Put the tools on the chest-height shelf where you can reach them.
Synonyms and how they differ
- chest level
- Very close in meaning and often used in the same way, but 'level' can also suggest a flat surface or a stage, while 'height' focuses on how tall or high something is.
- waist height
- Uses the same pattern but names a lower part of the body, so it describes something lower than chest height.
Word family
- chest-high adjective
- Describing water or grass that reaches up to your chest.
- shoulder height phrase
- The same kind of measurement taken at the shoulders, slightly higher than chest height.
Commonly confused: chest height or chest-height?
chest height vs chest-height
The hyphenated form chest-height is common before a noun (a chest-height shelf), while the two-word form is usual after a noun or after 'at' (a shelf at chest height).
Practice
The water in the river was so deep that it came up to his ____.
Choose one answer.
'Chest height' is the fixed phrase for describing how high something reaches on the body. 'Chest high' sounds like an adjective and does not fit after 'up to', and 'the chest height' wrongly adds an article.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “chest height”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.