space

SPAYS/speɪs/

Pluralspaces

Verbspaces, spacing, spaced

20 meanings of space

Practice

1
available areanouncountable or uncountable
A physical extent across two or three dimensions, sometimes available for a particular use.
The architects maximized the usable space within a narrow lot.
The new apartment has far more storage space than our old one.
UsageUsually without a: enough space, more space, take up space.
Similararea, volume
2
nouncountable or uncountable
A bounded area or volume with set limits, such as a room or other part of a building used for a particular purpose.
The gallery turned its basement into a flexible space for workshops.
The startup rents a small office space above a bakery downtown.
UsageOften after another noun: office space, study space.
Similararea, room, venue, place
Note
Architects use the word for a bounded volume defined by what happens there: exhibition space, public space, or the two circular performance spaces Tate Modern opened in old oil tanks in 2012. Unlike a room, it need not be walled on every side. Ziba Mir-Hosseini describes a narrow space merely curtained off from a courtyard. Adjectives treat it almost as a material: the space is light-filled.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
Tate Modern converted former oil tanks into circular display spaces, two used for performance art and installations. en.wikipedia.org
The Tanks opened in 2012. showonshow.com
Ziba Mir-Hosseini describes a narrow space curtained off from a courtyard. en.wiktionary.org
3
the cosmosnouncountable or uncountable
The near-vacuum beyond Earth's atmosphere, in which planets, stars, and other celestial bodies exist.
The telescope captured faint light from the most distant regions of space.
Sending a probe into space requires enormous amounts of fuel.
UsageNo the: travel into space, live in space (not ~~incorrect: in the space~~).
Similarcosmos, universe, heavens
4
nouncountable or uncountable
An empty place or gap between things, or where something is missing or could be put.
Fill in the blank space with your answer.
The museum left a space on the wall where the stolen painting had hung.
UsageA space for one gap: a space on the wall, a parking space.
Similargap, blank, opening
5
nouncountable or uncountable
The physical and psychological room a person needs in order to live or operate freely; personal freedom.
He moved out to find the space to make his own decisions.
Give her the space to grieve in her own way.
UsageCommon in give someone space and need some space, usually without a.
Similarroom, freedom, latitude, leeway, independence
6
nounfigurativelycountable
A domain or sector in which a given kind of activity or work is pursued.
Several startups now compete in the electric vehicle space.
He's a well-known figure in the wellness space.
UsageUsually the + field + space: the crypto space. Field, sector or area are plainer, less buzzy choices.
Similarsector, field, market, industry, area
7
noununcountable
Storage capacity on a computer, phone, or similar device, or the quantity of memory that a program takes up.
The update requires at least ten gigabytes of free space on your laptop.
Moving old backups to the cloud freed up space on the office server.
UsageCommon phrases: free up space, run out of space, out of space.
Similarstorage, memory
8
word gapnouncountable or uncountable
A gap between words or lines in text, or the character used to create such a gap when typing.
The editor removed a double space after every period.
Pressing the long key at the bottom inserts a space.
UsagePut a space after a comma; press the space bar to type one.
Similargap, blank, whitespace
9
spread outverbtransitive
To arrange things, such as objects, words and letters, or events, with gaps of a set size or length of time between them.
Space the bolts evenly around the rim to spread the load.
The architect spaced the columns to frame each view of the courtyard.
UsageOften with evenly, apart or out: spaced a foot apart, space out your visits.
Similardistribute, spread
10
nouncountable or uncountable
Physical extent in all directions, regarded as an attribute of the universe (now usually treated as part of space-time), or a mathematical model of physical space.
Einstein showed that mass curves the surrounding space.
Newton treated space as a fixed stage on which all events happen.
Note
Philosophers argued about it long before physicists measured it. Hobbes in 1656 called space "the Phantasme of a Thing existing without the Mind," a matter of perception. By 1880 Popular Science was asking whether our intuitions, confined to Euclidean space, could settle its shape. Since Einstein it is usually folded into space-time, and its mathematical models lead toward the mathematician's spaces.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
Philosophical debate about space predates modern physical investigations. en.wikipedia.org
The English edition containing Hobbes's definition appeared in 1656. en.wikisource.org
Hobbes defined space using the quoted wording, treating it as a mental representation. en.wiktionary.org
An August 1880 Popular Science article questioned whether Euclidean spatial intuitions could determine the geometry of physical space. en.wiktionary.org
Einstein's relativity treats space and time within spacetime; mathematical spaces generalize ordinary physical space. einstein-online.info
11
length of timenouncountable or uncountable
A period of time, either a stated one or an unspecified while, as in 'in the space of a year'.
For the space of a decade, the factory employed nearly the whole town.
In the space of a single afternoon, the hailstorm stripped every orchard in the valley.
UsageMostly in in the space of + a time, stressing how much happened quickly: in the space of a week.
Similarperiod, span, stretch
Note
Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman's "a moment's space" in Giles Corey (1892) shows an older possessive pattern.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman's play contains the exact phrase "a moment's space", illustrating a possessive construction. gutenberg.org
12
math setnouncountable
In mathematics, a set of points or objects with some structure, such as a coordinate space of a given number of dimensions.
The proof holds in a coordinate space of any dimension, not only the familiar two or three.
By treating signals as members of one space, engineers can compare them geometrically.
Note
Mathematicians often name their spaces in one of two ways: by the members, as in a vector space, or after a mathematician, as in a Hilbert space, a central setting of functional analysis. The members need not be places at all and may be functions or signals. A geometric picture lets them be treated as points, often with distance and nearness.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
The elements of a vector space are called vectors. hal.usc.edu
The elements of mathematical spaces can be functions or signals rather than physical locations. hal.usc.edu

Less common meanings

13
zone outverbintransitive
To become distracted and lose focus, letting your attention wander.
I tend to space out whenever a lecture drags on.
He spaced out halfway through the meeting and lost the thread entirely.
UsageUsually space out: I spaced out in the meeting.
Similarzone, daydream, drift
Oppositefocus, concentrate
14
online placenouncountable or uncountable
A virtual or online area, such as a chat room, where people can interact as though in a physical place.
Moderators work hard to keep the community space free of harassment.
She felt the chat had become a welcoming space for beginners.
UsageOften with a modifier: an online space, a virtual space, a digital space.
Similarforum, place, environment, platform
15
music staffnouncountable or uncountable
A gap between two adjacent lines of a musical staff, on which a note can be placed to indicate its pitch.
On the treble staff, the four spaces spell the word FACE from bottom to top.
The conductor pointed to the note resting in the top space of the bass clef.
UsageA note is in a space but on a line.
Note
Musicians count lines and spaces together, alternating up the staff, which is why the letter names A to G run across both. A note in "the 2nd space" sits just below the note on the third line, as John Hullah's English version of Wilhem's Method sets out.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Successive staff positions alternate between lines and spaces and carry the musical letter names A to G. en.wiktionary.org
Hullah produced an English adaptation of Wilhem's Method. en.wikipedia.org
The cited work places a note in the second space immediately below one on the third line, using the wording "2nd space". en.wiktionary.org
16
nouncountable or uncountable
A piece of metal type, cast lower than the letters so it takes no ink, used to separate words in a line of set type.
Hand-setting the poster, she reached into the type case for a lead space to slip between the two words.
Because each space sat below the printing surface, it left a blank gap rather than a mark.
Similarquad, quadrat
Note
Letterpress measured its blanks against the em. Marshall Lee's Bookmaking calls the multiples quads and the fractions spaces, so a space proper is the thin piece. Joseph Moxon's Mechanick Exercises (1683) shows a compositor forcing letters closer until there is room to put in another space. The larger quads were kept for spacing out whole lines.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
Letterpress spacing was measured in multiples and fractions of the em. en.wiktionary.org
Marshall Lee's Bookmaking calls the multiples quads and the fractions spaces. en.wiktionary.org
A space in the narrower technical sense is a thin spacing piece. en.wiktionary.org
Joseph Moxon's printing volume of Mechanick Exercises bears the publication date 1683. gutenberg.org
Moxon describes forcing letters closer to make room for another space. gutenberg.org
Quads were used to make blank lines between printed lines. gutenberg.org
17
free timenounarchaiccountable or uncountable
A period of free time; leisure or the opportunity to do something.
Come on, thou are granted ſpace.
c. 1604, William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”
Note
An old sense that belongs to older writing. When a character in Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well is "granted space," he is given time, not room. The sense still appears in Henry Boyd's poems of 1793, where a delay "will afford him space to reach the camp."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Space historically meant free time, leisure or opportunity. en.wiktionary.org
In Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well, the First Soldier tells Parolles he is granted space, meaning a reprieve or additional time. folgerdigitaltexts.org
Henry Boyd's Poems, chiefly dramatic and lyric was published in Dublin in 1793. lib.uchicago.edu
Boyd's The Royal Message contains the quoted wording about time to reach the camp. en.wiktionary.org
18
verbobsoleteintransitive
To move about on foot without fixed direction; to roam or wander.
But she as Fayes are wont, in priuie place / Did spend her dayes, and lov'd in forests wyld to space.
1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
Note
A verb of Spenser's age, not ours. In Book IV of The Faerie Queene (1596) a fairy "lov'd in forests wyld to space," meaning she loved to roam. Since it has no living use, a modern reader should not mistake it for the "lose focus" verb.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Spenser used this verb in The Faerie Queene. en.wiktionary.org
The Faerie Queene first appeared in 1590. Book IV, which contains this quotation, first appeared in 1596. en.wikipedia.org
The quotation describes a fairy and reads "lov'd in forests wyld to space". gutenberg.org
The quoted wording occurs in the poem. gutenberg.org
19
verb
To put someone to death by expelling them into the vacuum of space, typically with no protective suit.
20
verb
To travel into outer space and journey through it.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of space apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From Middle English "space," borrowed through Anglo-Norman (a variant of "espace"), from Latin "spatium," whose deeper origin is uncertain.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

English space comes from Middle English space, borrowed from Anglo-Norman. en.wiktionary.org
The Anglo-Norman form space is a variant of espace. en.wiktionary.org
The word ultimately comes from Latin spatium. en.wiktionary.org
The deeper origin of Latin spatium is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org