area
Americannoun
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areas
plural
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any particular extent of space or surface; part.
the dark areas in the painting;
the dusty area of the room.
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a geographical region; tract: the unsettled areas along the frontier.
the Chicago area;
the unsettled areas along the frontier.
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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.
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extent, range, or scope.
inquiries that embrace the whole area of science.
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field of study, or a branch of a field of study.
Related areas of inquiry often reflect borrowed notions.
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a piece of unoccupied ground; an open space.
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the space or site on which a building stands; the yard attached to or surrounding a house.
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British. areaway.
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the quantitative measure of a plane or curved surface; two-dimensional extent.
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Anatomy. a zone of the cerebral cortex having a specific function.
The damage to Broca's area affected his speech.
noun
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any flat, curved, or irregular expanse of a surface
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the extent of a two-dimensional surface enclosed within a specified boundary or geometric figure
the area of Ireland
the area of a triangle
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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
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a section, portion, or part
an area of the body
an area of the sky
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region; district; locality
a mountainous area
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a geographical division of administrative responsibility
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( as modifier )
area manager
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a part or section, as of a building, town, etc, having some specified function or characteristic
reception area
commercial area
slum area
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Also called: areaway. a sunken area, usually enclosed, giving light, air, and sometimes access to a cellar or basement
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the range, extent, or scope of anything
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a subject field or field of study
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any unoccupied or unused flat open piece of ground
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the ground on which a building stands, or the ground surrounding a building
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anatomy any of the various regions of the cerebral cortex
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computing any part of a computer memory assigned to store data of a specified type
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing area
Middle School Geometry, List 1
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Geometry - Introductory
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Scrabble: Four-Letter Words with 3 Vowels
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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.
See Examples For:
Dolly’s original investment in Silver Dollar City, the park’s predecessor, was purely to give back to the community and support jobs in the area.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Helen Grant, Widdecombe's successor as MP for the area of Maidstone in Kent, said the portrait was "the start of a lasting tribute to Ann".
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
It is therefore imperative to better understand the impact of "Atlantification" of East Greenland waters, but the remote, harsh environment has made it costly and difficult for researchers to reach the area.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
The San Francisco-based startup focuses on lowering the cost of intelligence and improving performance with so-called open-weight models, a hot area of growth as companies look to improve AI economics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
The rez had no accommodations, so a lot of people selected the camping area.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
If the Yes vote wins, Icelandic officials say talks with Brussels will take "months, not years", as 11 of the 35 areas of negotiation were already finalised when they were broken off.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Dorothy Heinrich, a researcher at the UK's University of Reading, told AFP: "In these mountain environments, the rivers can be quite narrow in areas."
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
How strange, or not, that he polled best in Democratic areas, including parts near Anchorage where he took 4% of the vote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Most coastal and valley areas will be 10 to 15 degrees above normal, with temperatures topping 100 in the valleys, according to the National Weather Service.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
When the Warden took everyone on vacations, exploring other cities and places, he and Ginny held forth on the geography, history, and cultures of the areas.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.
