third space

plural third spaces · alternative Third Space

1. countableuncountableA state or situation in which cultural distinctions do not apply, allowing one to transcend cultural assumptions.

   While some have begun to define the concept of third space, the ever-changing nature of third space theory is a constant roadblock for scholars in this area.

   2008, Living in Multiple Worlds, →ISBN, page 30

   3 more examples

   Third space cannot be produced by the simple transmutation of an excess corporate profit into a charitable "gift": tainted money remains suspect unless it is transformed by a self-consious philanthropic effort.

   2000, Jon Van Til, Growing Civil Society: From Nonprofit Sector to Third Space, →ISBN

   It is the lived condition of crossing borders and existing in the realm of both/and together that allows for the conscious movement into the creative terrain of third space.

   2012, Adela C. Licona, Zines in Third Space: Radical Cooperation and Borderlands Rhetoric, →ISBN, page 11

   However, this presupposes that hybrid third spaces are not conceptualized purely as spaces of mixing two or more influences on a level playing field; there are differences in conceptual power in intercultural contacts.

   2014, Arnd Witte, Blending Spaces, →ISBN

2. countableuncountableA place that is neither home nor work, providing a venue for social interaction in a way that those places do not provide.

   WeightWatchers meetings were a third space, those increasingly rare places that are not work and are not home.

   2025 May 15, Jennifer Weiner, “WeightWatchers Got One Thing Very Right”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 15 May 2025

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   For youth of Korea – where most still live at home before getting married – these third spaces operate as spaces to connect with other like-minded people.

   2008, Larissa Hjorth, Mobile Media in the Asia-Pacific, page 258

   A decade later, a wave of Taiwanese immigration brought boba shops to California, where they became critical third spaces for generations of young Asian Americans and their friends to study and socialize.

   2026 August 15, Irene Adeline Milanez, “We tasted boba from some of the Bay Area’s most popular chains. Here’s our No. 1”, in San Francisco Chronicle, archived from the original on 16 Aug 2026

   Synonyms: third place

3. countableuncountableAn extracellular and extravascular space where abnormal fluid buildup can occur when fluid balance goes wrong.
4. countableuncountableUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see third, space.

plural Third Spaces

1. countableuncountableAlternative letter-case form of third space.

   There is much in existing language teaching which will support this aim, but it needs to be reconceptualised within a firmly intercultural framework, which can develop a pedagogy of the Third Space.

   2001, Michael Kelly, Imelda Elliott, Lars Fant, Third Level, Third Space: intercultural communication and language, →ISBN, page 129

   2 more examples

   It is in this latter section that we will explore the close relationship between hybridity and the concept of the Third Space, which emerges as a major conceptual tool in understanding how hybridity works.

   2013, Revd Dr Christopher R Baker, The Hybrid Church in the City: Third Space Thinking, →ISBN

   This space within the Trinity corresponds to another space—the Third Space conjectured by postcolonial theory. The Third Space is a location in which community and identity are negotiated and where postcolonial subjects can enter into discourse not bound to the typical boundaries of colonizing discourse.

   2014, Sarah Travis, Decolonizing Preaching, →ISBN