Meaning & use
steambath
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Meanings
nouncountable
A room or enclosed space filled with hot steam where people sit to sweat and relax.
Grammar: Countable: a steambath at the gym; take a steambath.
Patterns
- a steambath at somewhere
- take a steambath
After the swim, we spent twenty minutes in the steambath.
The hotel has a steambath next to the pool.
He took a steambath to ease his sore muscles.
nouncountable
The session of sitting in such a room for relaxation or health.
Grammar: Often with have or take: she had a steambath after work.
A steambath before bed helps her relax.
They go for a steambath every Saturday morning.
Word forms
| plural | steambaths |
|---|
Common combinations
- take a steambath
- I like to take a steambath after a long run.
- public steambath
- The town built a public steambath in the 1920s.
- sit in the steambath
- We sat in the steambath until we were too hot to stay.
- steambath and sauna
- The spa offers a steambath and sauna.
- relaxing steambath
- A relaxing steambath was the best part of the trip.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sauna
- A sauna uses dry heat, usually in a wood-lined room, while a steambath is filled with moist steam.
- Turkish bath
- A Turkish bath is a larger traditional bathhouse with several hot rooms, not just one steamy chamber.
- steam room
- Steam room names the room itself, while steambath can also mean the activity.
Word family
Commonly confused: steambath or sauna?
steambath vs sauna
A sauna is dry and very hot; a steambath is wet and a little cooler.
Practice
What is a steambath?
Choose one answer.
A steambath is filled with moist steam. The dry wooden room describes a sauna, which is a tempting but different thing.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “steambath”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.