periphery
Americannoun
-
the external boundary of any surface or area.
- Synonyms:
- perimeter, circumference
- Antonyms:
- center
-
the external surface of a body.
- Antonyms:
- center
-
the edge or outskirts, as of a city or urban area.
-
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.
-
Anatomy. the area in which nerves end.
noun
-
the outermost boundary of an area
-
the outside surface of something
-
anatomy the surface or outermost part of the body or one of its organs or parts
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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."
Vocabulary lists containing periphery
The Kite Runner
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Human Geography - High School
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The Devil's Arithmetic
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It is a turning-point, a veritable moral peripety, though the decisive step was taken long ago.
From Cyropaedia: the education of Cyrus by Dakyns, Henry Graham
When Mr. Archer brings in the relief party of aviators just at the crucial moment, as hero and heroine are about to be slain, he has peripety in mind.
From Seeing Things at Night by Broun, Heywood
Hence a sudden and complete peripety in the student's mind.
From Seven Men by Beerbohm, Max, Sir
For him to fall in love was itself a violent peripety, bound to produce a violent upheaval; and such was his pride that for his love to be unrequited would naturally enamour him of death.
From Zuleika Dobson, or, an Oxford love story by Beerbohm, Max, Sir
The peripety was according to the best rules of tragic art.
From Zuleika Dobson, or, an Oxford love story by Beerbohm, Max, Sir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
