physical environment

American  

[fiz-i-kuhl-en-vahy-ruhn-muhnt] / ˈfɪz ɪ kəl ɛnˈvaɪ rən mənt /

noun

physical environments plural

1. the parts of the environment that are tangible and primarily natural, though they may be influenced by human action (climate, geographical features, weather systems, etc.).

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• physical environments
  plural

Example Sentences

The problem is in the qubits, whose quantum states are particularly sensitive to changes in the physical environment, meaning anything from electromagnetic fields to heat.

From Barron's • Dec. 10, 2025

The possibility to communicate reciprocally with the physical environment or more-than-human reality may have been an essential reason why these cliffs were visited and painted, and why offerings were left to them.

From Science Daily • Nov. 25, 2024

The ISS has six dedicated labs for experiments, and astronauts wear heart, brain or blood monitors to measure their responses to the challenging physical environment.

From BBC • Sep. 14, 2024

Thus, human cognition and memory could be considered to take place not just in the human brain, nor just in human bodily instinct, but also in the physical environment itself.

From Salon • Mar. 5, 2024

Even as archaeologists try to work out how the area’s first inhabitants reshaped their physical environment, other scientists are beginning to trace out their impacts in its genetic heritage.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann