sea room
- noun
- Specialized
- The fisherman anchored in the bay, confident he had sufficient sea room to avoid any hazards.
Examples
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To safely maneuver the vessel, the captain ensured there was enough sea room around the ship.
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When navigating through narrow channels, it's crucial to have adequate sea room for safe passage.
-
I began to steer quartering into the wind so as to gain sea room.
Fiction book (1991)
How Spacious
- Specialized
- Specialized
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'enough open space at sea for maneuvering' is directly derivable from combining 'sea' (body of water) with 'room' (available space), so the meaning follows transparent noun+noun composition. This is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common combination that a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer.
Etymology
Sea room comes from a simple picture: a ship needs open space in the sea and enough room to turn or stop without hitting rocks or other boats. So it means 'enough open space at sea for a ship to move safely'.