third space

Noun

1. A state or situation in which cultural distinctions do not apply, allowing one to transcend cultural assumptions.
   • 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,...
   • 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:
   • 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...
2. A place that is neither home nor work.
   • 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...
   • 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,...

   Synonyms: third place

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see third, space.