Word.ws English Dictionary

lebensraum

/ˈleɪbənzˌɹaʊm/

lebensraum noun: hitherto unoccupied “living space” claimed as one’s rightful domain.

Noun

lebensraum (plural lebensräume)

  1. Hitherto unoccupied “living space” claimed as one’s rightful domain.
    • Geographers accepted this enlarged meaning of the term and spoke readily of geographical Räume and Lebensräume of peoples, even in cases where no real three-dimensional distribution was implied.1949, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, volumes 39-40, self-published, page 115
    • Even when there aren’t any explosions going on, when you’re scanning a distant compound with your sniper rifle, trying to decide which soldier would be the best one to kill first, before every enemy in a two-mile radius deduces your exact position like a vodka-drinking sextant, everything from a...2010 (March 24th, 4:00pm): Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, “Battlefield: Bad Company 2” reviewed by Zero Punctuation, 2:48–3:05

Proper noun capitalized: Lebensraum

Lebensraum

  1. an empire in the form of overseas colonies, in imitation of contemporary powers such as Britain and France.
  2. (Nazism) a Großdeutschland obtained through Endoeuropean expansion, usually with a focus upon Drang nach Osten, and varying in its scope from the comparatively modest annexation of the Polish Border Strip to overlordship of the European continent by the conquest of Russian lands as far as the Urals.
    • The title of this article evokes memories of the beginning of World War II and reveals one method dictators use to increase their power. In China’s case, Xi Jinping’s Anschluss of Hong Kong in June 2020 fits nicely with the way Hitler began his initial European expansion strategy, called Lebensraum...2021 March 15, Guermantes Lailari, “The Lebensraum Factor in Xi Jinping’s Strategy for Hong Kong and Taiwan”, in Jewish Policy Center, archived from the original on 05 Apr 2021

Forms of lebensraum

plurallebensräume

Origin of lebensraum

A generalised use of Lebensraum.

Unadapted borrowing from German Lebensraum (literally “living space”).

Questions about lebensraum

What does lebensraum mean?
Lebensraum means hitherto unoccupied “living space” claimed as one’s rightful domain.
What part of speech is lebensraum?
Lebensraum can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lebensraum?
Lebensraum is pronounced /ˈleɪbənzˌɹaʊm/ (UK).
What is the plural of lebensraum?
The plural of lebensraum is lebensräume.

Words near lebensraum in the dictionary

  1. Lebedyn
  2. Lebel
  3. Lebels
  4. leben
  5. lebeneh
  6. lebensraum
  7. lebensräume
  8. lebenswecker
  9. lebensweckers
  10. Lebenswelt
  11. Lebenswelten

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lebensraum (page history and authors); Lebensraum (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lebensraum.wav.

Cite this entry: “lebensraum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lebensraum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.