# space

Pronunciation: say "SPAYS" /speɪs/

## Noun

1. A physical extent across two or three dimensions, sometimes available for a particular use.
   - Simple: The room or area that something takes up, or that you can use.
   - _The architects maximized the usable space within a narrow lot._
   - _The new apartment has far more storage space than our old one._
2. A bounded area or volume with set limits, such as a room or other part of a building used for a particular purpose.
   - Simple: An area or room with edges or walls, often used for a certain purpose.
   - _The gallery turned its basement into a flexible space for workshops._
   - _The startup rents a small office space above a bakery downtown._
3. The near-vacuum beyond Earth's atmosphere, in which planets, stars, and other celestial bodies exist.
   - Simple: The huge empty area beyond the air around Earth, where the stars and planets are.
   - _The telescope captured faint light from the most distant regions of space._
   - _Sending a probe into space requires enormous amounts of fuel._
4. An empty place or gap between things, or where something is missing or could be put.
   - Simple: An empty gap between things, or an empty place where something could go.
   - _Fill in the blank space with your answer._
   - _The museum left a space on the wall where the stolen painting had hung._
5. The physical and psychological room a person needs in order to live or operate freely; personal freedom.
   - Simple: The freedom and room a person needs to live or act in their own way.
   - _He moved out to find the space to make his own decisions._
   - _Give her the space to grieve in her own way._
6. A domain or sector in which a given kind of activity or work is pursued.
   - Simple: A certain area of work, business, or interest.
   - _Several startups now compete in the electric vehicle space._
   - _He's a well-known figure in the wellness space._
7. Storage capacity on a computer, phone, or similar device, or the quantity of memory that a program takes up.
   - Simple: Room for keeping files, photos, and apps on a computer or phone, or how much memory a program needs.
   - _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._
8. A gap between words or lines in text, or the character used to create such a gap when typing.
   - Simple: The small gap between words or letters when you write or type.
   - _The editor removed a double space after every period._
   - _Pressing the long key at the bottom inserts a space._
10. 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.
   - Simple: All the room there is in every direction, in which everything in the universe exists and moves.
   - _Einstein showed that mass curves the surrounding space._
   - _Newton treated space as a fixed stage on which all events happen._
11. A period of time, either a stated one or an unspecified while, as in 'in the space of a year'.
   - Simple: A length of time, as in 'in the space of a week' or 'for a short space'.
   - _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._
12. In mathematics, a set of points or objects with some structure, such as a coordinate space of a given number of dimensions.
   - Simple: In mathematics, a set of points or other things that share a structure, like a flat plane.
   - _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._
14. A virtual or online area, such as a chat room, where people can interact as though in a physical place.
   - Simple: A place online where people can meet and talk.
   - _Moderators work hard to keep the community space free of harassment._
   - _She felt the chat had become a welcoming space for beginners._
15. A gap between two adjacent lines of a musical staff, on which a note can be placed to indicate its pitch.
   - Simple: One of the gaps between the lines of a music staff, used to show a note's 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._
16. 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.
   - Simple: A small metal piece used in old printing to leave a gap between words.
   - _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._

## Verb

9. To arrange things, such as objects, words and letters, or events, with gaps of a set size or length of time between them.
   - Simple: To put things at a set distance from each other, or to leave a set time between events.
   - _Space the bolts evenly around the rim to spread the load._
   - _The architect spaced the columns to frame each view of the courtyard._
13. To become distracted and lose focus, letting your attention wander.
   - Simple: To stop paying attention and let your mind drift.
   - _I tend to space out whenever a lecture drags on._
   - _He spaced out halfway through the meeting and lost the thread entirely._

## Noun

17. A period of free time; leisure or the opportunity to do something. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Free time when you can rest or do what you want.

## Verb

18. To move about on foot without fixed direction; to roam or wander. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To walk about with no fixed goal, to wander.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To put someone to death by expelling them into the vacuum of space, typically with no protective suit.
- (verb) To travel into outer space and journey through it.

## Origin

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

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/space (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).