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anticamera

anteroom, waiting room

noun ahn-tee-KAH-meh-rah Rare

Origin: From ante- ('before') + camera ('room').

Also means

antechamber

Usage Note

Anticamera literally means a room before the main room — a waiting room or antechamber outside an office or audience room. The idiom fare anticamera means 'to be kept waiting' (literally 'to sit in the anteroom'), used when someone is made to wait before an important person grants them an audience.

Examples

"Ho aspettato mezz'ora in anticamera."

Natural Translation

I waited half an hour in the waiting room.

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