area

[ air-ee-uh ]

/ ˈɛər i ə /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR area ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

any particular extent of space or surface; part: the dark areas in the painting; the dusty area of the room.

a geographical region; tract: the Chicago area; the unsettled areas along the frontier.

any section reserved for a specific function: the business area of a town; the dining area of a house.

extent, range, or scope: inquiries that embrace the whole area of science.

field of study, or a branch of a field of study: Related areas of inquiry often reflect borrowed notions.

a piece of unoccupied ground; an open space.

the space or site on which a building stands; the yard attached to or surrounding a house.

British. areaway(def 1).

the quantitative measure of a plane or curved surface; two-dimensional extent.

Anatomy. a zone of the cerebral cortex having a specific function: The damage to Broca's area affected his speech.

Words nearby area

ardour, ards, arduous, ardèche, are, area, area bombing, area code, area of cardiac dullness, area of outstanding natural beauty, area opaca

Origin of area

1530–40; < Latin ārea vacant piece of level ground, open space in a town, threshing floor; perhaps akin to ārēre to be dry. See arid

OTHER WORDS FROM area

ar·e·al, adjectivear·e·al·ly, adverb

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH area

area aria

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for areal

The system of line-coordinates allied to the areal system of point-coordinates has special interest.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 6|Various

British Dictionary definitions for areal

area

/ (ˈɛərɪə) /

noun

any flat, curved, or irregular expanse of a surface

the extent of a two-dimensional surface enclosed within a specified boundary or geometric figurethe area of Ireland; the area of a triangle
the two-dimensional extent of the surface of a solid, or of some part thereof, esp one bounded by a closed curvethe area of a sphere

a section, portion, or partan area of the body; an area of the sky

region; district; localitya mountainous area

a geographical division of administrative responsibility
(as modifier)area manager

a part or section, as of a building, town, etc, having some specified function or characteristicreception area; commercial area; slum area

Also called: areaway a sunken area, usually enclosed, giving light, air, and sometimes access to a cellar or basement

the range, extent, or scope of anything

a subject field or field of study

any unoccupied or unused flat open piece of ground

the ground on which a building stands, or the ground surrounding a building

anatomy any of the various regions of the cerebral cortex

computing any part of a computer memory assigned to store data of a specified type

Derived forms of area

areal, adjective

Word Origin for area

C16: from Latin: level ground, open space, threshing-floor; related to ārēre to be dry

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012