wheelhouse

noun

wheel·​house ˈ(h)wēl-ˌhau̇s 

plural wheelhouses

1

: pilothouse

Looking out at the all-but-empty bay from the wheelhouse of the new 28-foot research boat …

—Bill Nemitz

He climbed a rickety rope ladder to the ship's deck, then another five flights of stairs to the wheelhouse.

—Daniel Machalaba

2

: a place or center of control or leadership (as in an organization)

But while there was momentary calm in the wheelhouse, there was still a real question whether anyone was really in command of the administration's foreign-policy machinery.

—David Gelman et al.

3

US

a

baseball : the section of the strike zone where it is easiest for the batter to hit the ball well

The home run came on a 3–2 pitch. [Danny] Graves tried to get Jenkins with a sinker. "It was right in his wheelhouse," Graves said.

—John Fay

b

: an area that matches a person's skills or expertise

… he was right in his wheelhouse—politics is where [Stephen] Colbert soars.

—Adam Chitwood

Examples of wheelhouse in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Image In the wheelhouse, the mate, Hollis Nevells, said that Narcan fit a mentality fishing jobs require. —C.j. Chivers James Patrick Cronin Elena Hecht Anna Diamond Quinton Kamara, New York Times, 6 June 2024

In other words, the special is right in O’Malley’s typical dystopia-chronicling wheelhouse. —Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 15 May 2024

Soto is a magnificent hitter, immune to hacking at offerings outside the strike zone and vicious on balls that enter his wheelhouse. —Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 3 May 2024

Sniffing out a hidden source of money is absolutely within your wheelhouse at this time. —Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 12 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1824, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

wheelhouse

noun

wheel·​house -ˌhau̇s 

1

: pilothouse

2

: the place of control or leadership (as in an organization)

3

: an area that matches a person's skills or expertise