commodious

American  

[kuh-moh-dee-uhs] / kəˈmoʊ di əs /

adjective

1. spacious and convenient; roomy.

   a commodious apartment.

2. ample or adequate for a particular purpose.

   a commodious harbor.

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commodious British  

/ kəˈməʊdɪəs /

adjective

1. (of buildings, rooms, etc) large and roomy; spacious

2. archaic suitable; convenient

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Other Word Forms

• commodiously adverb
• commodiousness noun
• noncommodious adjective
• noncommodiously adverb
• noncommodiousness noun
• uncommodious adjective

Etymology

Origin of commodious

1375–1425; late Middle English < Medieval Latin commodiōsus, equivalent to Latin commodi ( tās ) convenience ( commodity ) + -ōsus -ous

Explanation

If your house has a big and comfortable living room, you could say that you have a commodious space for entertaining. Commodious means roomy. Yes, you see the word, commode — i.e. toilet — in commodious. Both words once had the meaning of convenience attached to them from their Latin roots. Indoor plumbing is in fact convenient when you compare it with the alternative as is having room to spare. But that meaning was left behind years ago.

Example Sentences

The New Bath Guide of 1778 mentioned "…a commodious cold-bath, with convenient dressing-rooms".

From BBC • Oct. 9, 2023

The seats don’t recline but they are commodious, with a cute love seat in the front row if you’re on a date night.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 22, 2022

Its Key desk features a powder-coated metal frame, commodious drawer and angled legs.

From New York Times • Apr. 21, 2022

Roger Ebert called “Johnny Guitar” “one of the most blatant psychosexual melodramas ever to disguise itself in that most commodious of genres, the western.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2022

They drove new cars, vacationed at summer houses more commodious than C.P.’s tiny frame house, and kept fine stables of horses instead of a chain-link kennel with a couple of dogs inside.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson