ENVIRONMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does environment mean? 

• ENVIRONMENT (noun)
  The noun ENVIRONMENT has 2 senses:

1. the totality of surrounding conditions

2. the area in which something exists or lives

  Familiarity information: ENVIRONMENT used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ENVIRONMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The totality of surrounding conditions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

he longed for the comfortable environment of his living room

Hypernyms ("environment" is a kind of...):

situation; state of affairs (the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "environment"):

circumstance; context; setting (the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation or event)

ecology (the environment as it relates to living organisms)

background; scope; setting (the state of the environment in which a situation exists)

home (an environment offering affection and security)

milieu; surroundings (the environmental condition)

area; arena; domain; field; orbit; sphere (a particular environment or walk of life)

street (the streets of a city viewed as a depressed environment in which there is poverty and crime and prostitution and dereliction)

Derivation:

environmental (of or relating to the external conditions or surroundings)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The area in which something exists or lives

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

environment; environs; surround; surroundings

Context example:

the country--the flat agricultural surround

Hypernyms ("environment" is a kind of...):

geographic area; geographic region; geographical area; geographical region (a demarcated area of the Earth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "environment"):

ambiance; ambience (the atmosphere of an environment)

medium (the surrounding environment)

scene; setting (the context and environment in which something is set)

element (the most favorable environment for a plant or animal)

habitat; home ground (the type of environment in which an organism or group normally lives or occurs)

melting pot (an environment in which many ideas and races are socially assimilated)

parts (the local environment)

 Context examples 

Researchers followed 82 newly licensed teen drivers over a one-year period, equipping their vehicles with cameras and GPS technology to track the driver’s activity and environment.

(Reaching for objects while driving may raise teen crash risk nearly sevenfold, National Institutes of Health)

Dr Loetscher says the findings also provide an important bridge between tightly controlled laboratory studies and the study of natural eye movements in real-world environments.

(Eyes Can Indicate Personality Type, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This may be to help the plant to collect more light, particularly if it is growing in partly shaded environments.

(Rare mineral discovered in plants for first time, University of Cambridge)

There are many open questions about 55 Cancri e, especially: Why has the atmosphere not been stripped away from the planet, given the perilous radiation environment of the star?

(Lava or Not, Exoplanet 55 Cancri e Likely to have Atmosphere, NASA)

Voyager 1, NASA's farthest and fastest spacecraft, is the only human-made object in interstellar space, the environment between the stars.

(Voyager 1 Fires Up Thrusters After 37 Years, NASA)

Metabolomics is the study of the biological metabolic profile of a cellular specimen in a specific environment at an isolated timepoint.

(Metabolomics, NCI Thesaurus)

A term that refers to the microarchitectural environment and mineralization.

(Micro-Mineralization, NCI Thesaurus)

Issue associated with damage inflicted upon the device or device components from water vapor or water in the immediate environment in which the device is being used.

(Moisture Damage to Medical Device, Food and Drug Administration)

Issue associated with an unsatisfactory humidity level in the storage or use environment which affects device performance.

(Moisture or Humidity Problem Associated with Medical Device, Food and Drug Administration)

You can get a disease directly from an animal, or indirectly, through the environment.

(Animal Diseases and Your Health, NIH)