space

noun

• 1a continuous area or expanse which is free, available, or unoccupied:a table took up much of the space [count noun]:we shall all be living together in a small space he reversed out of the parking space
• [count noun] an area of land which is not occupied by buildings:she had a love of open spaces
• (also commercial space) an area rented or sold as business premises.
• [count noun] a blank between printed, typed, or written words, characters, numbers, etc..
• [count noun] Music each of the four gaps between the five lines of a stave.

• 2the dimensions of height, depth, and width within which all things exist and move:the work gives the sense of a journey in space and time
• (also outer space) the physical universe beyond the earth’s atmosphere.
• the near-vacuum extending between the planets and stars, containing small amounts of gas and dust.
• Mathematics a mathematical concept generally regarded as a set of points having some specified structure.

• 3an interval of time (often used to suggest that the time is short considering what has happened or been achieved in it):both their cars were stolen in the space of three days

• 4the amount of paper used or needed to write about a subject:there is no space to give further details
• pages in a newspaper, or time between television or radio programmes, available for advertising: it is the media person’s job to buy the press space or the TV or radio spots

• 5the freedom to live, think, and develop in a way that suits one:a teenager needing her own space

• 6 Telecommunications one of two possible states of a signal in certain systems. The opposite of mark¹.

verb

• 1 [with object] position (two or more items) at a distance from one another:the poles are spaced 3m apart
• (in printing or writing) put blanks between (words, letters, or lines): (as noun spacing)the default setting is single line spacing

• 2 (be spaced out or chiefly North American space out) informal be or become euphoric or unaware of one’s surroundings, especially from taking drugs:I was so tired that I began to feel totally spaced out I kind of space out for a few minutes