ambient

American  

[am-bee-uhnt] / ˈæm bi ənt /

adjective

1. of the surrounding area or environment: The temperature in the display case was 20° lower than the ambient temperature.

   Your voice mail picked up some ambient noise from airplanes and lawn mowers.

   The temperature in the display case was 20° lower than the ambient temperature.

2. completely surrounding; enveloping.

   Many pollutants are present in ambient air in relatively low concentrations.

3. creating a certain reaction or mood, often a subconscious one, by being wherever people tend to be.

   ambient advertising on a shopping cart.

4. pertaining to or noting sounds that create a peaceful and relaxed atmosphere.

   I stream ambient ocean sounds to help me fall asleep.

5. pertaining to or noting close and constant social contact and communication fostered by the internet or the use of digital devices.

   social media sites that enable ambient intimacy and awareness.

---

noun

1. ambient music.

ambient British  

/ ˈæmbɪənt /

adjective

1. of or relating to the immediate surroundings

   the ambient temperature was 15°C

2. creating a relaxing atmosphere

   ambient music

---

noun

1. informal ambient music

Other Word Forms

• unambient
  adjective
• unambiently
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of ambient

First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin ambient- (stem of ambiēns, present participle of ambīre “to go around”), equivalent to amb- ambi- + -i- “go” + -ent- -ent

Explanation

Ambient is an adjective used to describe an aspect of the environment that completely surrounds you, but in a mellow way, like ambient music played softly throughout a restaurant, or the ambient orange glow during a setting sun. Ambient describes some pervasive quality of the surrounding environment, like the ambient lighting in a movie theater, or the ambient temperature of a room. Most times when you’re hearing silence, you’re hearing some ambient noises too, like the hum of a refrigerator or the whistle of a breeze. Usually ambient describes a quiet or peaceful quality, but it can be aggressive too, like the ambient drone of war planes flying above that you can hear no matter where you hide.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ambient

That ethereal, ambient thing at the end kills me.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026

New York City residents live with an ambient soundtrack of emergency sirens, subway screeches and I’m-walking-here arguments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Public and communal resources can be easy to undervalue precisely because so much of their worth is ambient.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

"In the end, we optimized the conditions to a practical level and, under ambient temperatures, achieved PEG-modified cleaving efficiency above 91% at 50°C within just one to two hours," stated Inagaki, the study's first author.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

Because the oxygen systems we were using delivered a lean mix of compressed gas and ambient air, 29,000 feet with gas felt like approximately 26,000 feet without gas.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

Related Words

• atmosphere
• environment
• feeling
• mood
• surroundings
• trend