A hole in a wall

[Crescent Pulsar R]

Okay, this has annoyed me since the dawn of time, or thereabouts. Whenever I'm writing a story where people can pass into one room from another, without a door separating them, I don't know what to call the space that's in the wall. Especially if said space is pretty substantial. I don't think I should call it a doorway, because there's no door. And if I did, someone might assume that there is a door, and saying doorless doorway doesn't sound right. I suppose, if it had an arch, I'd call it an archway; but, in most cases, there isn't an arch. Calling it a throughway/thruway doesn't sound right, and an entryway is for entering and leaving the house itself, not individual rooms. Passageway doesn't sound right, either, since I think of hallways and corridors. And calling it an opening is just...

I'd be immensely grateful if someone could help me out with this.

[Spokavriel]

You listed almost all the fitting ones. It could also be an opening an access a walkway even if people do think of that more as paths of a longer length its still a way to walk through where there otherwise would have been a wall. A Breezeway could also fit if its a place left open so air can pass easier between the rooms but more people would think of that as window size not floor to ceiling.

[Knight of L-sama]

and saying doorless doorway doesn't sound right

How about empty doorway? Doorway is what my family uses to describe such a thing we have in our house, though in this case it used to have a door in it.

[Crescent Pulsar R]

EDIT: I don't know... Empty doorway sounds a bit odd. But it's something to consider.

Spokie:

But they don't seem to fit, to me. I need something more technical that can't be confused for something else. Something like an archway, which is assumed to not have a door, as opposed to a doorway, where it is assumed that there is a door. That said, when I think of a walkway, I think of a path outside. And breezeways are called such because the transitioning from one place to another is outside of the house, not inside, regardless of whether it leads to another building or not.

It's annoying because my makeshift bedroom has two walls like this (it was originally intended to be a dining room), that have openings that allow passage without obstruction.

[Spokavriel]

You could say topless or square archway Sure the curve is for arches but that would define the empty space.

And for me empty Doorway has only ever meant there wasn't a person or thing in the way. That doesn't mean it isn't a place with an open door that is out of the way still there.

As to breezeways being outdoors not always. But I'd rather not argue on that because even when I was suggesting it I was thinking it wouldn't be a good one to use and that's why I pointed out people could easily imagine it as a pass through instead of some kind of connection you could walk through between rooms.

[Shanami]

My parents' entire house is built like that with basically 1 foot protrusions from the wall that signals the shift in room. We've never bothered calling them anything though. I honestly cannot think of calling it something though, ever.

[Spokavriel]

If the protrusion only went half way to the ceiling it might be considered a knee wall.

[Shanami]

Well, I meant more along the lines of a 20 foot gap between the two walls of the space in general, and a 1 foot narrowing on each side when the rooms change. Like little itty-bitty walls (full height) poking out to delineate where rooms shift.

At least, that's how I interpreted what he was looking for a word for as, I could be wrong though.

[JustinD]

How about walking past/through the divider, opening, threshold, portal or entryway.

[Crescent Pulsar R]

I was thinking that I might be able to toss in "threshold" with the right wording. I remember, in a house that I used to live in a long time ago, that there was a sort of threshold between the rooms. It had been as wide as the depth of the wall, made of wood, and divided two different carpets.