milieu
Americannoun
plural
milieus,plural
milieuxnoun
Related Words
See environment.
Etymology
Origin of milieu
First recorded in 1795–1805; from French, equivalent to mi (from Latin medius “middle”; see medium) + lieu lieu
Explanation
A milieu is a surrounding culture. Your family, house, neighborhood, school, and people you hang out with make up your milieu. For example, if you live in a mansion and have rich friends, you’re part of the upper crust milieu. A milieu is both "surroundings" and everything that makes up the surroundings. Your milieu is your world, or the context you come from. Sometimes a milieu shapes a person, as when a "milieu of abuse and poverty," inspires someone to improve things for others. Milieu sounds a lot like mildew without the "d," but unless you grew up in a moldy bathtub, mildew probably has little to do with your milieu, or environment.
Vocabulary lists containing milieu
100 SAT Words Beginning with "M"
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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
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A Walk in the Woods
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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.
The portraits play off the novel’s milieu: a series of churches, as well as the medieval French castle that is home to an eccentric and mostly absent prince.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026
"By asking why LNPs perform so differently in the physiological milieu of the body, we found a surprisingly simple answer that could make a wide range of mRNA and gene editing therapies substantially more effective."
From Science Daily • Apr. 20, 2026
By merging then and now, it plunges visitors into a milieu they may know only through a Shaker bentwood box, and it signals that this exhibition aims to explore the relevance of Shaker ideas today.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026
Even more unusual, in this particular political milieu, was her expressed compassion for Palestinian Muslims.
From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026
Multi-part performance in either the vocal or instrumental milieu is cognitively beneficial, and will increase a child’s musical competence.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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.
