periphery

American  

[puh-rif-uh-ree] / pəˈrɪf ə ri /

noun

• peripheries
  plural

1. 

   the external boundary of any surface or area.

   Synonyms:

   perimeter, circumference

   Antonyms:

   center

2. the external surface of a body.

   Antonyms:

   center

3. the edge or outskirts, as of a city or urban area.

4. the relatively minor, irrelevant, or superficial aspects of the subject in question.

   The preliminary research did not, of course, take me beyond the periphery of my problem.

5. Anatomy. the area in which nerves end.

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periphery British  

/ pəˈrɪfərɪ /

noun

1. the outermost boundary of an area

2. the outside surface of something

3. anatomy the surface or outermost part of the body or one of its organs or parts

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• peripheries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of periphery

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Late Latin peripherīa, from Greek periphéreia “circumference,” literally, “a bearing round,” from peri- peri- + phér(ein) “to bear” + -eia -y ³; replacing Middle English periferie, from Medieval Latin periferīa, variant spelling of Late Latin peripherīa

Explanation

When something is on the periphery of your vision, you can only see it when you’re looking sideways. Periphery means outside the boundary of something. If you’re on the periphery of a group, you’re close to it but not part of it. A band on the periphery of a particular scene might have opened for another band a few times, but it's never headlined or gotten their big break. Periphery comes from a Greek word meaning "to carry around."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

periphery peripheries

European car companies have increasingly been pushed to the periphery.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

A son to Jewish Moroccan immigrants, Eisenkot grew up in the working-class city of Eilat in Israel’s periphery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

In a ditch near a military outpost on Obeid’s periphery, an army engineer walked through a graveyard of RSF drones shot down in recent days.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2026

But Leigh Radwell who has lived on the periphery of the base in Heyford Park for more than a decade, wants to know whether it has polluted the surrounding environment where she lives.

From BBC ● May 20, 2026

Mr. A. H— moves along the periphery, going mostly unnoticed and speaking with only a few of the other guests, including Mr. Barris, who introduces him to Herr Thiessen.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

The return of great-power rivalries, and the perennial challenge of disorder from peripheries beyond government control, has made that task a priority again.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025

He was a great pope, a really great pope of my era, especially the way he reached out to the peripheries, which reaffirmed the ministry I had of reaching outside of the church.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2025

It has seen attacks on its peripheries in recent weeks, but this was the first strike on the settlement itself.

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2024

In 2016, Francis canonized Argentina’s first saint: José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero, a poncho-wearing, mate-sipping “gaucho priest” who ministered in the Argentine peripheries, and was in many ways a 19th-century version of Francis himself.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 9, 2024

The width of the beams which Mr. Godfrey derives from his simple rule, that is, the width equals the sum of the peripheries of the reinforcing rods, is not upheld by theory or practice.

From Some Mooted Questions in Reinforced Concrete Design American Society of Civil Engineers, Transactions, Paper No. 1169, Volume LXX, Dec. 1910 by Edward Godfrey

Related Words

• brink
• fringe
• perimeter
• rim
• verge