Spacious and comfortable; having plenty of room. It is often used to describe rooms, buildings, or objects that provide ample space and are easy to move around in.
Ellie, the room you prepared is inordinately commodious…
Pronunciation: /kəˈmoʊ.di.əs/ (kuh-MOH-dee-uhs)
Part of Speech: Adjective
Definition
Spacious and comfortable; having plenty of room. It is often used to describe rooms, buildings, or objects that provide ample space and are easy to move around in.
Example Sentences
- The hotel suite was commodious, offering enough space for a large family.
- She preferred a commodious handbag that could hold all her essentials.
Etymology:
“Commodious” comes from the Late Latin word commodiosus, which means “convenient” or “suitable.” This is derived from the Latin commodus, meaning “suitable, convenient, or proper.”
Synonyms
Here’s an explanation of how commodious compares to similar words:
- Spacious: Refers to having a lot of space or area. It emphasizes the physical size of a place. Commodious also implies a large space but adds a sense of comfort and suitability for use, whereas spacious only focuses on the size.
- Example: A spacious room might feel large, but a commodious room feels both large and comfortable.
- Roomy: Informal and often used to describe something that has plenty of space inside (like cars or bags). Commodious sounds more formal and suggests both space and practicality, especially in describing living spaces or objects that are comfortable and well-suited for use.
- Example: She likes a roomy car, but for a luxury suite, a commodious one would be ideal.
- Ample: Implies more than enough space or quantity. Ample can refer to space, resources, or time, while commodious is more specific to physical spaces, particularly when emphasizing comfort and convenience.
- Example: The apartment had ample storage, but the commodious living area made it feel even more inviting.
- Capacious: Suggests the ability to contain a large amount. It focuses on volume and capacity rather than comfort or suitability. Commodious emphasizes both space and the idea that it’s comfortable to use.
- Example: A capacious suitcase holds a lot, but a commodious living room not only holds many people but does so comfortably.
- Expansive: Refers to something large and wide-reaching, often used to describe outdoor spaces or views. Commodious applies more to indoor or enclosed spaces that are large and comfortable, while expansive can apply to anything that feels broad or widespread.
- Example: The house had an expansive garden, while its commodious rooms offered both space and comfort.
In summary, commodious emphasizes not just space but also comfort and practicality, whereas the other words focus on different aspects of size, volume, or openness.
Antonyms
Here’s an explanation of cramped, confined, tight, small, and restricted, with their nuances:
- Cramped: Refers to a space that is uncomfortably small and lacks room to move. It emphasizes discomfort due to limited space. The opposite of commodious, cramped implies that the area is too small for the people or objects inside.
- Example: The cramped apartment felt claustrophobic, unlike the commodious living room of a larger house.
- Confined: Refers to a space that is enclosed or limited, often with a sense of restriction. It suggests being trapped or limited to a small area, focusing more on the boundaries. While commodious implies freedom of movement, confined suggests the opposite.
- Example: The confined cell was the opposite of the commodious suite with ample space to move around.
- Tight: Describes a space where things are packed closely together, leaving little room to move or breathe. It can refer to both physical space and metaphorically to situations where there’s little flexibility. Unlike commodious, which feels spacious, tight suggests being squeezed or restricted.
- Example: The tight seating arrangement made it difficult to move, in contrast to the commodious setup in the larger hall.
- Small: Refers simply to the physical size of something, indicating that it has limited dimensions. Small doesn’t necessarily imply discomfort like cramped does, but it’s the opposite of commodious, which suggests large, spacious areas.
- Example: The small bedroom was functional, but nowhere near as commodious as the master suite.
- Restricted: Refers to limits or constraints, either physical or metaphorical. It can describe a space that’s limited in size or an environment with restrictions on movement or freedom. Unlike commodious, which implies openness and comfort, restricted implies limitation and lack of freedom.
- Example: The restricted access to the garden made it feel much smaller compared to the commodious layout of the park.
In summary, cramped, confined, tight, small, and restricted all imply limitations in space or freedom, contrasting with the spaciousness, comfort, and suitability suggested by commodious.
Usage Notes
- “Commodious” is often used in formal or literary contexts.
- It typically refers to physical space but can also imply a sense of comfort due to the spaciousness.
