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Glite Dictionary
gas chamber

gas chamber

45 7.8
A sealed room where people or animals die from poison gas
  • noun
  • /ɡæs ˈtʃeɪmbər/
  • Offensive
translation icon : cámara de gas
  • The pathway to Sobibor's gas chambers was only uncovered during excavations in 2007.
  • sent to the gas chamber

So people say there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz, and that's Holocaust denial.

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Examples

  • I saw my family taken to the gas chambers to the sound of the Meistersinger overture.

    Academic text (1998)

  • This area right here would have been the gas chamber where people were executed.

  • In three days, he sent three thousand people to the gas chamber for the death of his brother.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • In 1984, Mississippi passed a law changing executions from gas chamber to lethal injection.

    The Chamber (1996)

  • The condemned man was led into the gas chamber, where the execution would take place.

  • Survivors spoke about their fear of being sent to the gas chamber during the Holocaust.

  • The history museum features a display about the infamous gas chamber used for executions.

Synonyms

death chamber
vsgas chamber
  • NSFW
4 9.1

A sealed room for killing people by releasing poison gas

has identical meaning but uses an alternative name emphasizing death

Surface Forms

gas chamber singular
gas chambers plural

Morphology

gas + chamber

The meaning is directly compositional: 'gas' (poisonous gas) combined with 'chamber' (an enclosed room) straightforwardly yields 'a room where gas is used', so a learner who knows both words can infer the MWE. This noun-noun compound pattern is common across languages and follows transparent English word-formation, making it immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Gas chamber literally joins gas and chamber: it is a closed room where poisonous gas is brought in to kill people or animals. That's why the term means a place used for 'execution'.