biosphere
Americannoun
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the part of the earth's crust, waters, and atmosphere that supports life.
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the ecosystem comprising the entire earth and the living organisms that inhabit it.
noun
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The parts of the land, sea, and atmosphere in which organisms are able to live. The biosphere is an irregularly shaped, relatively thin zone in which life is concentrated on or near the Earth's surface and throughout its waters.
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All the Earth's ecosystems considered as a single, self-sustaining unit.
Related Words
See ecosystem ( def. ).
Other Word Forms
- biospheric adjective
Etymology
Origin of biosphere
First recorded in 1895–1900; from German Biosphäre; bio-, -sphere
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.
Various forms of evidence suggest that the biosphere was more productive during the Miocene compared to now, and that at higher latitudes, this effect was more pronounced.
From Salon • Feb. 17, 2025
"We must protect our biosphere - it is not a zero-sum game," he added, pointing to a recent report by the Office for National Statistics that valued UK ecosystems at £1.8tn.
From BBC • Nov. 11, 2024
In contrast, land habitats make up less than 1 percent of the planet’s biosphere because the band of life is so narrow, making its volume quite small.
From New York Times • May 30, 2024
The findings are especially important in the Santa Barbara Channel, which is an internationally recognized biosphere reserve, a designated Whale Heritage Area, and one of the most important whale migration routes in the United States.
From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2024
It might turn out that the same tendency underlies the joining of organisms into communities, communities into ecosystems, and ecosystems into the biosphere.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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.
