area

American  

[air-ee-uh] / ˈɛər i ə /

noun

areas plural

1. any particular extent of space or surface; part.

   the dark areas in the painting;

   the dusty area of the room.

2. a geographical region; tract: the unsettled areas along the frontier.

   the Chicago area;

   the unsettled areas along the frontier.

3. any section reserved for a specific function: the dining area of a house.

   the business area of a town;

   the dining area of a house.

4. extent, range, or scope.

   inquiries that embrace the whole area of science.

5. field of study, or a branch of a field of study.

   Related areas of inquiry often reflect borrowed notions.

6. a piece of unoccupied ground; an open space.

7. the space or site on which a building stands; the yard attached to or surrounding a house.

8. British. areaway.

9. the quantitative measure of a plane or curved surface; two-dimensional extent.

10. Anatomy. a zone of the cerebral cortex having a specific function.

    The damage to Broca's area affected his speech.

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area British  

/ ˈɛərɪə /

noun

1. any flat, curved, or irregular expanse of a surface

2. 1. the extent of a two-dimensional surface enclosed within a specified boundary or geometric figure

      the area of Ireland

      the area of a triangle

   2. the two-dimensional extent of the surface of a solid, or of some part thereof, esp one bounded by a closed curve

      the area of a sphere

3. a section, portion, or part

   an area of the body

   an area of the sky

4. region; district; locality

   a mountainous area

5. 1. a geographical division of administrative responsibility

   2. ( as modifier )

      area manager

6. a part or section, as of a building, town, etc, having some specified function or characteristic

   reception area

   commercial area

   slum area

7. Also called: areaway.  a sunken area, usually enclosed, giving light, air, and sometimes access to a cellar or basement

8. the range, extent, or scope of anything

9. a subject field or field of study

10. any unoccupied or unused flat open piece of ground

11. the ground on which a building stands, or the ground surrounding a building

12. anatomy any of the various regions of the cerebral cortex

13. computing any part of a computer memory assigned to store data of a specified type

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area Scientific  

/ âr′ē-ə /

1. The extent of a surface or plane figure as measured in square units.

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area Idioms  

1. see gray area.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• areal
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• areas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of area

First recorded in 1530–40; fram Latin ārea “vacant piece of level ground, open space in a town, threshing floor”; perhaps akin to ārēre “to be dry”; see also arid

Explanation

The area is a part of a place, usually defined by a function. If you can't stop talking, don't sit in the quiet area of the library. In Latin, area means a vacant piece of ground, but we use it in English to talk about a region or place that's a subset of another larger region. The boarding area in the airport is the space right next to the door. Area is also used to describe topics or subjects of study or work. Within a big history department, professors have different areas of specialty, from medieval economics to urban American politics.

Example Sentences

Area coroner Michelle Brown suspended the inquest in Chelmsford for four months so detectives could continue their inquiries.

From BBC • Jun. 18, 2026

Between her family’s connections and living in the San Francisco Bay Area at the time, Sheila attended rehearsals for acts such as Santana, Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead.

From Salon • Jun. 18, 2026

Area Agencies on Aging can connect adults in your age group with benefits counseling, financial assistance programs and transportation services.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 18, 2026

Erbach spent decades in the Bay Area and had owned a concert staging company in the United States before retiring to an ex-pat community near Guadalajara.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 17, 2026

Oppenheimer arrived at the gate of the Tech Area each morning at 7:30, flashed his white badge, and walked to his office.

From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin

Related Words

• city
• county
• field
• locality
• neighborhood
• section
• sector
• square
• state
• territory
• township
• zone