armchair

UK/ˈɑː(ɹ)mtʃɛə(ɹ)/US/ˈɑɹmt͡ʃɛɚ/

nounA2+2 meanings Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,115 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: armchairs

An armchair is a big soft chair for one person, with a padded place to rest each arm. The one everybody wants.

It is the centre of a British sitting room and a whole idea of comfort, and having your own armchair is a quiet claim on a household. The word gives English a fine dismissive adjective, since an armchair critic, an armchair expert or an armchair general offers strong opinions about things they have never done. That use is one of the most useful insults the language has.

Definitions of armchair

1nounarmchairA comfortable chair with supports for the arms.A2+
“He fell asleep in the armchair with the paper on his chest.”
2adjectivegivingGiving opinions on something without doing it.C1
“He is an armchair expert on every sport there is.”

Where it comes from

From arm + chair.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Around the House, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 16 of A Man Called Ove.

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