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

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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

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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

See Examples For:

area areas

Pacific Power, part of Berkshire-owned PacifiCorp, faces a costly problem: It has a small rural customer base to share the expense of hardening the power grid in a sprawling, wildfire-prone area of Northern California.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

During the closure, Caltrans said traffic control officers will be deployed to 18 key intersections in the area to monitor and manually facilitate traffic flow, and local police will expand commercial traffic enforcement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

Residents have been told to avoid the area and events, including a local firework display, have been cancelled.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

Another area investors are missing with Micron is its adjusted free cash flow, Mortonson said, which reached $33 billion just in the last quarter and shows the company’s ability to generate cash.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026

His legs dangled out into the teacher’s area at the front of the classroom.

From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott

On balance, Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, reckons that gains from AI in areas like manufacturing aren’t enough to completely offset losses elsewhere.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

County, particularly in lower-income areas and neighborhoods where residents are predominantly Latino or Black.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

People who carry APOE4 can experience reduced blood flow in certain areas of the brain years before they begin having noticeable memory difficulties.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2026

In an effort to limit pollution, India's Supreme Court on Monday permitted the manufacture, sale and use of certified "green" firecrackers in Delhi and surrounding areas for a limited period.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

“Your library cards will grant you access to all the rooms and areas where we will be playing our twelve games,” she explained.

From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein

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Related Words

• city
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• locality
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• section
• sector
• square
• state
• territory
• township
• zone

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