spacious, commodious, capacious, ample mean larger in extent or capacity than the average. spacious implies great length and breadth.
a spacious front lawn commodious stresses roominess and comfortableness.
a commodious and airy penthouse apartment capacious stresses the ability to hold, contain, or retain more than the average.
a capacious suitcase ample implies having a greater size, expanse, or amount than that deemed adequate.
ample closet space
Did You Know?
Although it's now used to mean "roomy," in the 18th century "commodious" was regularly used to mean "handy" or "serviceable," a meaning that is true to the word's Latin ancestor, commodum, meaning "convenience." Poet William Cowper used the word in that original sense in a letter referring to a vessel that served double duty, carrying mackerel and herring from a seaside town to London, then making the return trip carrying passengers. As Cowper observed, "The cheapness of the conveyance made it equally commodious for dead fish and lively company." (No doubt the arriving passengers had a lively smell, which may be one reason why Cowper also noted that some visitors to the seaside town were company whom "people who were nice in the choice of their company, were rather fearful of keeping company with.")
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'commodious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.