leeway
Americannoun
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extra time, space, materials, or the like, within which to operate; margin.
With ten minutes' leeway we can catch the train.
-
a degree of freedom of action or thought.
His instructions gave us plenty of leeway.
- Synonyms:
- cushion, flexibility, latitude
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Also called sag. Nautical. the amount or angle of the drift of a ship to leeward from its heading.
-
Aeronautics. the amount a plane is blown off its normal course by cross winds.
noun
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room for free movement within limits, as in action or expenditure
-
sideways drift of a boat or aircraft
Etymology
Origin of leeway
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The 10% leeway is being built in to reflect that some patients may not be able to make a same-day appointment or may call too late in the day to be realistically given one.
From BBC
Given "the fear of falling behind" the United States and China in developing AI technologies, Prissard said that Europe may succumb to the "temptation to allow more leeway to innovate without obstacles".
From Barron's
"There's plenty of leeway to bend the rules strategically, to flout the rules for a while and get marketing clout," he adds.
From BBC
Taken together, the California and Texas decisions show that the justices are inclined to grant broad leeway to state legislatures engaged in unusual and strategic mid-decade redistricting.
“We brought in guest speakers to talk about it with a little more leeway about what’s happening right now in our climate, beyond just the basics of our data.”
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
