atmosphere
Americannoun
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atmospheres
plural
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the gaseous envelope surrounding the earth; the air.
a weather balloon rising high into the atmosphere.
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this medium at a given place.
the warm, dry atmosphere of the Joshua tree's natural environment.
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Astronomy. the gaseous envelope surrounding a heavenly body.
The white ovals seen in Saturn's atmosphere could be intense storms.
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Chemistry. any gaseous envelope or medium.
The ether was treated with a sulfate in an atmosphere of coal gas.
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a conventional unit of pressure, the normal pressure of the air at sea level, about 14.7 pounds per square inch (101.3 kilopascals), equal to the pressure exerted by a column of mercury 29.92 inches (760 millimeters) high. atm.
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a surrounding or pervading mood, environment, or influence.
an atmosphere of impending war;
a very tense atmosphere.
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the dominant mood or emotional tone of a work of art, as of a play or novel.
the chilly atmosphere of a ghost story.
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a distinctive quality, as of a place; character.
The old part of town has lots of atmosphere.
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Radio, Television, Movies. Also atmospheres, atmos the background sound that is present, or would naturally be present, in the location where a recording or broadcast is made, often recorded as a separate track and then mixed; ambient sound.
verb (used with object)
noun
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the gaseous envelope surrounding the earth or any other celestial body See also troposphere stratosphere mesosphere ionosphere
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the air or climate in a particular place
the atmosphere was thick with smoke
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a general pervasive feeling or mood
an atmosphere of elation
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the prevailing tone or mood of a novel, symphony, painting, or other work of art
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a special mood or character associated with a place
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any local gaseous environment or medium
an inert atmosphere
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Abbreviation: at. atm. a unit of pressure; the pressure that will support a column of mercury 760 mm high at 0°C at sea level. 1 atmosphere is equivalent to 101 325 newtons per square metre or 14.72 pounds per square inch
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The mixture of gases surrounding the Earth or other celestial body, held in place by gravity. It forms distinct layers at different heights. The Earth's atmosphere consists, in ascending order, of the troposphere (containing 90% of the atmosphere's mass), the stratosphere, the mesosphere, the thermosphere, and the exosphere. The atmosphere is composed primarily of nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%) and plays a major role in the water cycle, the nitrogen cycle, and the carbon cycle.
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See more at exosphere mesosphere stratosphere thermosphere troposphere
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A unit of pressure equal to the pressure of the air at sea level, about 14.7 pounds per square inch, or 1,013 millibars.
Discover More
The atmosphere of the Earth is roughly eighty percent nitrogen and twenty percent oxygen, with traces of other gases. (See ionosphere, stratosphere, and troposphere.)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of atmosphere
From the New Latin word atmosphaera, dating back to 1630–40. See atmo-, -sphere
Explanation
An atmosphere is a surrounding environment or influence. If you and your coworkers talk behind each other's backs, you will create a nasty atmosphere at work. Atmosphere was coined by 17th-century scientists combining the Greek words for vapor, atmos, and sphere, sphaira. The earth's atmosphere is the air and gas surrounding our planet. Atmosphere also describes the feeling of a place. A coffee shop might have a cool, artsy atmosphere. Some plants grow best in a damp atmosphere. In physics, atmosphere is a unit of pressure equal to the air pressure at sea level.
Vocabulary lists containing atmosphere
Over The Moon: Planetary Vocabulary
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Physical Geography - Introductory
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Weather and Climate - Introductory
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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 flavor of the milk tea, the atmosphere on Sawtelle, the street, and the punch card at Volcano Tea House makes it special there.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
BBC Sport visited the final event of 2026 at an exclusive golf club in Indianapolis, and found a strange atmosphere of surface-level optimism, but deep uncertainty.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Our greenhouse-gas-warmed atmosphere holds more moisture, so El Nino-linked rains can turn more extreme.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
When the film opens at Oak Street’s idyllic summer block party, complete with cookouts and kids happily pedaling together on their bikes, he purposefully evokes the atmosphere of the movies he covertly cites.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
Moments later, I watched it enter Lyttyrboks’s atmosphere in another burst of green light.
From "Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat" by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth
Willets focuses on DJ and experiential atmospheres, rather than live music venues and locales.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
A lot of us have worked for employers that try to create family or party-like atmospheres in one way or another.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
They sing constantly and have generated the best atmospheres I have encountered in the US.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
One leading explanation is that these worlds possess enormous atmospheres rich in hydrogen and helium that account for a large fraction of their total mass.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 27, 2026
According to the main computer, during the blast, the internal pressure spiked to 1.4 atmospheres, and the temperature rose to 15°C in under a second.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Eric Ambler led a school during the United Front period of the '30s with wonderfully atmosphered thrillers in which the heroes, or their allies, were Soviet security men.
From Time Magazine Archive
Not after all the other new Earths, freezing cold or methane atmosphered or at best completely waterless.
From The First Day of Spring by Mari Wolf
Or rather, it left its ghosts behind it, ever shifting forms and shadows, each atmosphered in its own ethereal mood.
From Weighed and Wanting by George MacDonald
It had atmosphered itself with rich perfume, and something far richer, for three thousand miles.
From Among the Forces by Henry White Warren
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.
