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:
The metro area is also home to some of the company’s most dedicated and tech-savvy critics, including Jordan, the cybersecurity researcher and YouTuber.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
The incident saw 10 wagons of the 25-wagon train derail, causing 446,000 litres of fuel to spill, and about 300 people had to leave the area due to the blaze.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
The area surrounding Minembwe, which has been fiercely contested for months, has been particularly difficult for international organisations to access.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
"That makes it very promising for the new telescopes becoming available, including the Roman Space Telescope, which can see an area 100-times larger than that of the Hubble."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
Broca notices that in the brains of stroke patients who'd lost the power to speak there is visible damage in a small area on the outside of the left frontal lobe.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
"This is an active and rapidly evolving situation and I urge everyone in the affected areas to remain vigilant and follow the direction of local officials," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
"The Hawk Fire is a very dynamic incident for us as it's being driven by the winds. The wind-driven fires move very rapidly into our residential areas," he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
There’s challenges in the areas of messaging, creative and even how we deploy the media itself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
"There were areas that needed a long time to plan."
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Even South Vietnam’s large army, which was supposed to patrol and protect these areas, avoided the enemy.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
