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Glite Dictionary
ajar

ajar

3 1.2
Slightly open, like a door or window
  • adjective
  • /əˈdʒɑr/
translation icon : entreabierto
  • When I got to the second floor of my apartment building, my front door was slightly ajar and the cheap lock was busted.
  • the ajar door
  • slightly ajar
  • the ajar bedroom door

You you see this door, it's only like slightly ajar.

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Examples

  • The door to the next chamber is ajar.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Your right door is ajar.

    Gleaming the Cube (1989)

  • And once I even saw them, because their door was ajar.

    The House of the Spirits (1993)

  • When I came back it was ajar.

    Captain from Castile (1947)

  • The light in the hall was on, and the bedroom door was ajar.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The door to the master's room was still ajar.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Then another doorway, leading to another bathroom, was slightly ajar.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Hershel got up and loped to the door, which was slightly ajar.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The door is barely ajar; a sliver of light falls through the crack onto the hallway carpet.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The front door was slightly ajar, allowing a gentle breeze to come inside.

Synonyms

to open
vsajar
∞ 1.0

To lead into another room or space

is left with a small gap rather than a full passage
unclosed
vsajar
1 4.6

Open when it should be shut, like a window or envelope

is left with a small gap rather than fully shut

Antonyms

to shut
∞ 1.0

To close something so it is not open

closed
3 1.0

Shut so people cannot go in or see

How Open

wide open
127 2.3
open
∞ 1.0
ajar
3 1.2

Surface Forms

ajar positive

Etymology

Ajar probably comes from the old prefix a- meaning 'on' and the word jar, once used for a small gap or a sudden shake. A helpful way to remember it is to think of a door 'on a gap', so a door ajar is 'slightly open'.