personal space
26
3.5
- noun
- /ˈpɜrsənl speɪs/
:
espacio personal
- He felt uneasy when someone invaded his personal space during the conversation.
- personal space requirements
- personal space is invaded
- personal space is required
I work from home, so my my personal space is so important.
- I work from home, so my my personal space is so important.
- But me on the other hand, I get so cranky if I don't have my own personal space.
- You lean into their personal space and how that signals like low value, then they lean out.
- Yeah, I just just for 'cause I'm so like, like I regenerate my energy from being in my personal space.
- And if there's one thing, but HMRC has rights that no other government body does, rights to invade your privacy and invade your personal space.
- And only my personal space for one drink a night.
- Now, earlier we were talking about this notion of Perry personal space versus extra personal space.
- And here's the biggest offender of all personal space invader plus chronic halitosis.
- It's difficult to get any sort of, it's just it's personal space really, and so that makes it hard to film.
- I earlier today we did a practice in which which involved invasion, shall we say, of Perry personal space.
Examples
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Respect personal space at parties, especially while drunk.
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With her students, Emily used imagery to help the children explore personal space first.
Academic text (2004) -
I work from home, so my my personal space is so important.
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Please, remove yourself from my personal space.
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Okay, this is my personal space.
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It's an invasion of our personal space.
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Mutual respect for personal space.
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When they're moving around the room, they have to keep their personal space.
Academic text (2013) -
One kindergarten teacher found this exercise particularly beneficial in teaching her class about personal space.
Academic text (2013) -
Respecting people's personal space, privacy in personal care, and confidentiality of personal information.
Academic text (2010)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
An empty area available for use
756
3.7
Freedom from being seen or watched by other people
Antonyms
- Texting
5
4.0
An online place where people meet to discuss public issues and share ideas
How Distant
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'personal' (belonging to a person) combined with 'space' (an area) clearly yields an area belonging to or surrounding an individual. This noun-noun compound follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Personal space comes from the image of an invisible 'bubble' that sits around a person. If someone steps into that personal space, the person feels 'too close', so the phrase means the area around someone that others should not enter without permission.