Meaning & use
transitional space
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountabletechnical
In psychology, a mental or physical area between inner imagination and outer reality where a child plays and creates.
Grammar: Countable when you mean one such area: a transitional space. Uncountable when you talk about the idea in general: the role of transitional space.
Patterns
- a transitional space between something and something
- create a transitional space
- in the transitional space
The psychologist described play as happening in a transitional space between the child's inner world and the real one.
Drawing gave her a transitional space where feelings could be tried out safely.
In therapy, the room itself can work as a transitional space for the patient.
nouncountable
Any physical area that connects or lies between two other places, such as a hallway or lobby.
Grammar: Countable and usually followed by between: a transitional space between the entrance and the offices.
Patterns
- a transitional space between something and something
- serve as a transitional space
- use something as a transitional space
The architect designed a glass transitional space between the garden and the living room.
Airport corridors are transitional spaces that few people stop to notice.
They turned the old porch into a transitional space for coats and shoes.
Word forms
| plural | transitional spaces |
|---|
Common combinations
- a transitional space between
- The hallway acts as a transitional space between the noisy street and the quiet flat.
- create a transitional space
- Good teachers create a transitional space where children feel safe to experiment.
- serve as a transitional space
- The courtyard serves as a transitional space for students arriving on campus.
- in a transitional space
- Her best ideas came to her while she was in a transitional space, half dreaming and half awake.
Synonyms and how they differ
- in-between space
- A plain, everyday way to say the same thing; it lacks the psychological theory that transitional space carries.
- liminal space
- Used more in cultural studies for a threshold or in-between stage; transitional space is the usual term in child psychology.
Word family
- transition noun
- the process of changing from one state or place to another
- transitional adjective
- relating to a period of change between two states
- transitionally adverb
- in a way that relates to a period of change
Commonly confused: transitional space or transition space?
transitional space vs transition space
This is not a standard term; learners sometimes drop the -al, but the established phrase is transitional space.
Practice
In child psychology, a transitional space is best described as an area between ______.
Choose one answer.
The psychological sense refers to the zone between a child's inner world and external reality, where play happens. The other options describe ordinary gaps in time or geography, which do not match the technical meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “transitional space”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.