Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of exteriority
Explanation
Exteriority is a characteristic of being on the outside of something. In books, a character's exteriority is what they do in the outside world, rather than their thoughts and feelings. Exteriority is a fancy word for "a state of being external or outside." When an architect talks about a building's exteriority, they are literally referring to its outside elements — exterior walls, decks, porches, and roofs — in contrast to the interior rooms. In literature and philosophy, this noun is used for things that happen to a person in the physical world, not their reactions, sensations, or emotions. The Latin root means "on the outside."
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.
Horror films scare us through exteriority: Image and sound come together to create the illusion of danger.
From New York Times • Oct. 25, 2021
Photos, which are often poised and polished, have a sense of exteriority to them; they are meant to be shown and shared.
From New York Times • Jul. 6, 2021
This form enabled me to segue seamlessly between the past and the present, character interiority and exteriority.
From The Guardian • Oct. 5, 2019
Where they part is in exteriority and ego: Wagner deals with expansion and limitlessness, while Beckett drills deeper into the idea of limitation, nowhere to go.
From The Guardian • Jul. 31, 2014
Nature to Hegel is the idea in the form of hetereity; and finding itself here it has to remove this exteriority in a progressive evolution towards an existence for itself in life and mind.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 1 "Evangelical Church Conference" to "Fairbairn, Sir William" by Various
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.
