Word of the Day

: September 17, 2006

commodious

adjective kuh-MOH-dee-us

What It Means

: comfortably or conveniently spacious : roomy

commodious in Context

Everyone loves Gerry's country house, especially the commodious living room, with its sprawling overstuffed chairs, stone fireplace, and stunning view of the mountains.

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.")