office space

Meanings

1. 1noununcountablebusiness

   Rooms or floor area in a building that are meant to be used as offices, especially when rented or sold.

   Grammar: Uncountable: we need more office space, not more office spaces.

   Patterns

   • rent office space
   • office space in something

   The start-up rented office space above a bakery.

   There is plenty of office space available downtown.

   The company is paying too much for office space it hardly uses.

2. 2noununcountable

   The amount of room people have in which to do their work inside an office.

   Grammar: Uncountable, often with a quantity word: little office space, enough office space.

   Patterns

   • enough office space
   • office space for someone

   With six new hires, we are running out of office space.

   Each employee gets about ten square meters of office space.

   Open-plan layouts give you less private office space.

Common combinations

rent office space

They rent office space by the month in a shared building.

lease office space

The firm decided to lease office space near the station.

shared office space

Freelancers often use shared office space to cut costs.

commercial office space

Demand for commercial office space has fallen in the city.

office space available

A sign in the window read: office space available.

Synonyms and how they differ

premises

Premises is formal and covers any building a business uses, not just rooms made for desks.

workspace

Workspace is broader and can mean a workshop, studio or a single desk, not only an office.

commercial property

Commercial property is the legal and real-estate term and includes shops and warehouses as well as offices.

Opposites

Word family

office noun

a room or building where administrative work is done

officer noun

a person who holds an official post

official adjective

relating to an authority or position

space noun

an area or room available

Commonly confused: office space or office hours?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “office space”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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