entrance

Pluralentrances

Formsentrances, entrancing, entranced

1. 1
   nouncountable

   The place where you go into a building or enclosed area, such as a gate or doorway.

   Guests gathered at the hotel entrance before the tour began.

   A grand stone entrance marked the edge of the estate.

   Similarentryway

   Oppositeexit

2. 2
   nouncountable

   The act of going in or coming into a place.

   The senator's entrance into the hall drew a hush from the crowd.

   Cameras captured the team's entrance onto the field.

   Similarentry, arrival, appearance

   Oppositeexit, departure

   Note

   A French borrowing that pushed out a home-grown word. Middle English had ingang, inherited from Old English, until Middle French entrance took its place. The commonest collocation is make an entrance, and adding grand makes it theatrical: an arrival meant to be watched. In "her entrance attracted no attention," the same noun simply records that someone came in.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The right or permission to go into a place or event.

   Membership grants entrance to the private gardens year-round.

   Without a pass, visitors are denied entrance to the laboratory.

   Similaradmission, entry, access, admittance

   Note

   Entry as a permission rather than a movement, and so uncountable: it takes no article and no plural. It is gained, given or denied, as in gain entrance to the museum or give entrance to friends, and to marks the place. When you mean the doorway itself, the place of entering takes over, and that one is countable.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To delight someone and fill them with wonder.

   Skilled storytellers entrance their listeners with vivid detail.

   The orchestra's performance entranced the entire hall.

   Similarenchant, captivate, enthrall, charm, bewitch

   Oppositebore

   Note

   A different word that happens to share the spelling. It is en- plus trance in its sense of "daze," and it has nothing to do with doors. The noun and the verb meet in the 1996 lyric by Tab Murphy and his co-writers, which sets a grand arrival beside the power to spellbind in one short line. The verb most often appears as a passive participle with by, as in children entranced by balloons.

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The beginning of something, or the act of entering upon a new stage or undertaking.

   His entrance into the family business marked a new chapter.

   The treaty's entrance into force changed trade across the region.

   Similarentry, start (entry), beginning

   Note

   The figurative threshold covers stepping into an undertaking, or the opening of a story or career. Shakespeare's Hamlet gives the advice "Beware of entrance to a quarrel," with no article. Henry Hunter's Sacred Biography (1794) speaks of "the entrance of the history" of a patriarch, meaning its opening. Today the sense pairs most readily with into, as in a difficult entrance into business.

6. 6
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of taking possession of property or assuming the duties of an office.

   Her entrance into the governorship followed a narrow election.

   The will specified the date of his entrance upon the inheritance.

   Similarentry, accession

   Note

   Here entering means taking up a role or a property rather than crossing a threshold. The preposition depends on what is entered. An heir makes his entrance upon an inheritance, and a magistrate makes his entrance into office. Upon gives the phrase a formal, legal ring, while into is the natural choice for offices and positions.

7. 7
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The point at which a musician or singer begins playing or singing within a piece.

   The conductor cued the cellos for their entrance.

   Her entrance came a beat too early, throwing off the ensemble.

   Similarentry

   Note

   In rehearsal talk an entrance is a moment in time rather than a doorway: the cellos' entrance, a late entrance, a missed one. Entry means the same thing, and musicians use the two interchangeably. Conductors cue entrances, and a misplaced one can throw off the whole ensemble, so the word usually comes with a judgment of timing: early, late or clean.

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To put someone into a trance, a state of suspended awareness.

   Rhythmic drumming can entrance the dancers for hours.

   The shaman entranced the gathering with steady chanting.

   Similarhypnotize, mesmerize, bewitch

9. 9
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of having a ship or its goods recorded on an official register at a customhouse.

   The merchant paid duties at the entrance of his goods.

   Customs officers logged the entrance of every incoming vessel.

   Similarentry

   Note

   A clerk's sense, built on enter as in entering a name in a book. The person who registers makes the entrance, and what is registered follows of: his entrance of the arrival, the entrance of his goods. At a customhouse, this recording of a ship or cargo is the formal step that lets duties be assessed.

10. 10
    nouncountable or uncountable

    The angle that a vessel's bow forms with the water at the waterline.

    A fine entrance reduces resistance as the hull moves forward.

    Shipwrights adjusted the entrance to improve the boat's speed.

    Note

    Naval architects measure this one in degrees, usually as angle of entrance or entrance angle. Practical Engineer (1899) puts a coarse-lined ship at about 40 degrees at the load waterline and a fine-lined one at roughly half that. A fine entrance is sharp and easily driven. Marinò and Bucci (2018) tie larger entrance angles to higher form resistance.

11. 11
    nouncountable or uncountable

    The forward, wedge-shaped section of a ship's hull below the waterline; the underwater bow.

    Designers shaped the entrance to part the water cleanly.

    The vessel's entrance was reinforced against ice.

    Similarbow

    Note

    Where the angle at the waterline is a measurement, this is the shape itself: the whole underwater wedge of the bow. Horatio Nelson's diary of 1781 praises the Albemarle for having "a bold entrance, and clean run," pairing the forward part of the hull with its after part. Bold and clean are the kind of judgments the word invites.

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