full house

noun

plural full houses

1

: a poker hand containing three of a kind and a pair see poker illustration

2

: a theater, concert hall, etc. that is completely filled with spectators

Nevertheless, Into Great Silence played to a full house for two months at one of the city's hippest independent movie theaters.

—Michael Boudway

Examples of full house in a Sentence

a singer performing before a full house

A hand with three kings and two tens is a full house.

Recent Examples on the Web

In Brooklyn, there was a full house at the beautiful opera-house-like Roulette space. —Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 27 June 2025

The 2025 Native Son Awards brought a full house of joy, legacy and love to the IAC Building in New York City on June 11. —Oumou Fofana, Essence, 17 June 2025

Liverpool’s game against Arsenal on Sunday should have been a party — glorious weather, no pressure and a full house at Anfield to salute the new Premier League champions. —James Pearce, New York Times, 13 May 2025

The game drew a full house of 9,000-plus to Laval’s Place Bell arena, and Kinnear said the atmosphere was electric. —Steve Lyttle, Charlotte Observer, 29 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1701, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for full house

• alehouse
• almshouse
• backhouse
• baghouse
• bakehouse
• bathhouse
• bauhaus
• blockhouse
• boathouse
• brewhouse
• bunkhouse
• clubhouse