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Who warned of the harmful effects of pesticides on the environment in the 1962 book Silent Spring?

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environment

American  

[en-vahy-ruhn-muhnt, -vahy-ern-] / ɛnˈvaɪ rən mənt, -ˈvaɪ ərn- /

noun

• environments
  plural

1. the aggregate of surrounding things, conditions, or influences; surroundings; milieu.

   Synonyms:

   environs, locale

2. Ecology. the air, water, minerals, organisms, and all other external factors surrounding and affecting a given organism at any time.

3. the social and cultural forces that shape the life of a person or a population.

4. Computers. the hardware or software configuration, or the mode of operation, of a computer system.

   In a time-sharing environment, transactions are processed as they occur.

5. an indoor or outdoor setting characterized by the presence of environmental art that is designed specifically to make use of that site.

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environment British  

/ ɪnˈvaɪrənmənt /

noun

1. external conditions or surroundings, esp those in which people live or work

2. ecology the external surroundings in which a plant or animal lives, which tend to influence its development and behaviour

3. the state of being environed; encirclement

4. computing an operating system, program, or integrated suite of programs that provides all the facilities necessary for a particular application

   a word-processing environment

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environment Scientific  

/ ĕn-vī′rən-mənt /

1. All of the biotic and abiotic factors that act on an organism, population, or ecological community and influence its survival and development. Biotic factors include the organisms themselves, their food, and their interactions. Abiotic factors include such items as sunlight, soil, air, water, climate, and pollution. Organisms respond to changes in their environment by evolutionary adaptations in form and behavior.

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Synonym Usage

Environment, milieu, ambiance, setting, surroundings all refer to what makes up the atmosphere or background against which someone or something is seen. Environment may refer either to actual physical surroundings or to social or cultural background factors: an environment of crime and grinding poverty. Milieu, encountered most often in literary writing, refers to intangible aspects of the environment: an exhilarating milieu of artistic ferment and innovation. Ambiance applies to the atmosphere of the surroundings, their mood or tone: an ambiance of ease and elegance. Setting suggests a background that sets something off: a perfect setting for the emerald. Surroundings alludes specifically to the physical aspects of the environment: awoke in strange surroundings; blend in with her surroundings. See ecosystem ( def. ).

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• environmental
  adjective
• environmentally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• environments
  plural

Etymology

Origin of environment

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Middle French environnement; see environ, -ment

Explanation

Think of the environment as everything that is around you. A quiet room with good lighting and no distractions is a good environment for doing homework, or at least that's what your parents and teachers think. Environment generally refers to your surroundings. If something is good for the environment, it is beneficial to the complex system of plant and animal life, water and air on Earth. An environment need not be so large, however. The environment of your living room means the tables, chairs and decor that are in the room. Sometimes it refers to the general attitude of a place. Do you thrive in a competitive environment or prefer an atmosphere of cooperation?

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

environment environments

It condemned illegal tapping and siphoning, warning that such activities put lives, the environment and the economy at risk.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

That has led them to move existing production toward HBM from lower-cost memory, he said, which has also contributed to the tight supply environment.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

“But we don’t anticipate any sort of change in the supply environment in the near term here. It’s probably more in terms of ‘28.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

The plant was growing at an elevation of nearly 1,000 meters, an unusually high and seasonally dry environment for members of the genus.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026

There is no such thing as perfection, only the relentless, thirsty matching of an organism to its environment.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Many plants and basic organisms can sense things in their environments and change their behaviors accordingly, but this does not require them to have an awareness of their selves.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Geological recycling can influence the development of atmospheres, oceans and environments where life might be possible.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026

But that is by design, said INRIA's Serena Ivaldi, as the robots "have to act in human environments" without startling the people they help.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

TotalEnergies says "strict measures have been taken to avoid, mitigate and offset" the impact on local environments and that it has compensated 99 percent of displaced households.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

Arsenic-contaminated environments have also caused sickness and death among horses, cows, goats, pigs, deer, fishes, and bees; despite this record arsenical sprays and dusts are widely used.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Related Words

• climate
• habitat
• mise en scène
• setting
• situation
• status
• surroundings