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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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 stores marked for closure either lack a path to financial viability or do not meet the physical environment Starbucks is looking for.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 25, 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

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