''antechamber'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''antechamber'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260125204041-00-⌔

antechamber - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

antechamber (plural antechambers)

• A small room used as an entryway or reception area to a larger room.
  • ✤ Synonyms: anteroom, foreroom
  • ✤ Who knows. Perhaps the Ark is still waiting in some antechamber for us to discover. Perhaps there’s some vital bit of evidence which eludes us. Perhaps…¹
  • ✤ “This is merely the antechamber, the entrance hall,” said Dumbledore after a moment or two.²
• (botany) The space immediately below the guard cells of a stoma.

Etymology

From Middle French antichambre, with remodelling after ante- and chamber.³ By surface analysis, ante- +‎ chamber.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈæn.tiˌt͡ʃeɪm.bə/, /ˈæn.tɪˌt͡ʃeɪm.bə/
• (US) IPA: /ˈæn.tiˌt͡ʃeɪm.bɚ/
• Audio (US): 🔊

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

1. 1981, Lawrence Kasdan, Raiders of the Lost Ark, spoken by Belloq: ↩

2. 2005 July 16, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter; 6), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN: ↩

3. “antechamber, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000. ↩

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