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Leeway vs Loophole - What's the difference?

leeway | loophole |

As nouns the difference between leeway and loophole

is that leeway is the drift of a ship or airplane in a leeward direction while loophole is a method of escape, especially an ambiguity or exception in a rule that can be exploited in order to avoid its effect.

As a verb loophole is

(military) to prepare a building for defense by preparing slits or holes through which to fire on attackers.

leeway

English

Noun

(wikipedia leeway) (en noun)
  • The drift of a ship or airplane in a leeward direction.
  • A varying degree or amount of freedom or flexibility; margin, latitude, elbowroom.
    • I don't think we have a lot of leeway when it comes to proper formatting.
  • * 2005 , James Gosling et al., The Java Language Specification, Third Edition , Prentice Hall PTR, ISBN 0321246780, section 15.4 “FP-strict Expressions”,
    • Within an expression that is not (comment)-strict, some leeway is granted for an implementation to use an extended exponent range to represent intermediate results;
  • (British) An adverse discrepancy or variation in a cumulative process, usually in make up leeway.

    • Synonyms

    * (varying degree or amount of freedom) freedom, flexibility, latitude, wiggle room

    Related terms

    * lee * leeward

    loophole

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A method of escape, especially an ambiguity or exception in a rule that can be exploited in order to avoid its effect.
  • * 1839, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist :
    • I left him no loophole of escape, and laid bare the whole villainy which by these lights became plain as day.
  • * 2002, Two Weeks Notice (movie):
    • You have a contract that says you will work until Island Towers is finalized, which I interpret as completion of construction, or I can stop you working elsewhere. And there's no loopholes , because you drafted it and you're the best.
  • A slit in a castle wall. Later: any similar window for shooting a weapon or letting in light.
  • * 1719 , Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe :
    • ... and having a fair loophole , as it were, from a broken hole in the tree, he took a sure aim, without being seen, waiting till they were within about thirty yards of the tree, so that he could not miss.
  • * 1809 , Maria Edgeworth, The Absentee :
    • There was a loophole in this wall, to let the light in, just at the height of a person's head, who was sitting near the chimney.
  • * 1949 , George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four , page 25:
    • The sun had shifted round, and the myriad windows of the Ministry of Truth, with the light no longer shining on them, looked grim as the loophole s of a fortress.

    Verb

    (loophol)
  • (military) To prepare a building for defense by preparing slits or holes through which to fire on attackers
  • * {{quote-book, year=1896, author=Arthur Conan Doyle, title=The Exploits Of Brigadier Gerard, chapter=, edition= citation
    • , passage=The lower windows were barricaded, and the whole building loopholed for musketry fire. }}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1907, author=A. E. W. Mason, title=The Broken Road, chapter=, edition= citation
    • , passage=The doors were barricaded, the shutters closed upon the windows and loopholed , and provisions were brought in from the outhouses. }}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1915, author=W. H. L. Watson, title=Adventures of a Despatch Rider, chapter=, edition= citation
    • , passage=The Germans were loopholing it for defence. }} English words with consonant pseudo-digraphs