Origin: Latin suffix -ance
Entrance has 7 different meanings across 2 categories:
something that provides access (to get in or get out)
"they waited at the entrance to the garden"
"beggars waited just outside the entryway to the cathedral"
The action of entering, or going in.
"The children cheered loudly at the moment of their entrance onto the stage."
In plain English: An entrance is the way you go into a building or room.
"The grand entrance to the theater was decorated with red flowers."
Usage: Use "entrance" to refer to the physical act of going inside or the feeling of being impressed by something. Do not use it to mean the doorway itself, which should be called an "entry."
To delight and fill with wonder.
"The grandeur of the cathedral entrance left me breathless."
In plain English: To enter a place by walking through a door or gate.
"The new manager will make an impressive entrance at the annual gala."
Usage: Do not use "entrance" as a verb to mean entering a room; that action remains "enter." Reserve the verb form strictly for when you want to describe something captivating that delights and fills someone with wonder.
The word entered English in the Middle Ages via Middle French as "entrance," meaning "entry." It eventually replaced the native Old English term ingang, which had carried the same sense of ingress or admission.