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

Matt comes up to the wheelhouse to apologize for the deck’s screw-ups and to say that Alex is falling short. — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 3 Nov. 2026

Playing pretend and dressing up are big parts of their job, so crafting a great costume is very much in their wheelhouse. — Bailey Bujnosek, InStyle, 2 Nov. 2026

That is well within Rhyne Howard and Bonner’s wheelhouse, but even the likes of Canada and Naz Hillmon will have to make some 3s. — Sabreena Merchant, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2026

When the movie’s style gets weird, that’s when Fielder is most in his wheelhouse. — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1824, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for wheelhouse

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

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