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armchair.

A chair with supports for the arms or elbows.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈɑː(ɹ)mtʃɛə(ɹ)/UK/ˈɑɹmt͡ʃɛɚ/US
  1. A chair with supports for the arms or elbows.

    I collapsed into an armchair.
  2. An upholstered chair without armrests intended for the living room

  3. A position from which a casual and inexpert perspective looks out on the world.

    figuratively
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- Proto-Indo-European *h₂érmos Proto-Germanic *armaz Proto-West Germanic *arm Old English earm Middle English arm English arm Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥-th₂der.? Proto-Hellenic *kətá Ancient Greek κατά (katá) Proto-Indo-European *sed-der. Proto-Indo-European *sedreh₂ Proto-Hellenic *hédrā Ancient Greek ἕδρα (hédra) Ancient Greek κᾰθέδρᾱ (kăthédrā)bor. Latin cathedrader. Old French chaierebor. Middle English chayere English chair English armchair From arm + chair.

adj/ˈɑː(ɹ)mtʃɛə(ɹ)/UK/ˈɑɹmt͡ʃɛɚ/US
  1. Remote from actual involvement (including cases where a person has retired from previously active involvement).

    figuratively · not-comparable
    armchair travels
    These days I'm an armchair detective.
  2. Unqualified or uninformed but yet giving advice, especially on technical issues, such as law, architecture, medicine, military theory, or sports; relating to such advice.

    derogatory · figuratively · not-comparable
    He's just an armchair lawyer who thinks he knows a lot about the law because he reads a legal blog.
    After the game, the armchair quarterbacks talked about what they would have done differently to win.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- Proto-Indo-European *h₂érmos Proto-Germanic *armaz Proto-West Germanic *arm Old English earm Middle English arm English arm Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥-th₂der.? Proto-Hellenic *kətá Ancient Greek κατά (katá) Proto-Indo-European *sed-der. Proto-Indo-European *sedreh₂ Proto-Hellenic *hédrā Ancient Greek ἕδρα (hédra) Ancient Greek κᾰθέδρᾱ (kăthédrā)bor. Latin cathedrader. Old French chaierebor. Middle English chayere English chair English armchair From arm + chair.

verb/ˈɑː(ɹ)mtʃɛə(ɹ)/UK/ˈɑɹmt͡ʃɛɚ/US
  1. To create based on theory or general knowledge rather than data.

  2. To theorize based on analysis of data that was gathered previously; to reflect.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- Proto-Indo-European *h₂érmos Proto-Germanic *armaz Proto-West Germanic *arm Old English earm Middle English arm English arm Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥-th₂der.? Proto-Hellenic *kətá Ancient Greek κατά (katá) Proto-Indo-European *sed-der. Proto-Indo-European *sedreh₂ Proto-Hellenic *hédrā Ancient Greek ἕδρα (hédra) Ancient Greek κᾰθέδρᾱ (kăthédrā)bor. Latin cathedrader. Old French chaierebor. Middle English chayere English chair English armchair From arm + chair.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.