surroundings
Britishplural noun
Explanation
Your surroundings are the things all around you. When you park your car in a huge lot, paying attention to your surroundings can help you find the car again later. You can use the noun surroundings to mean the nearby environment — all of the objects close by, as well as the location itself — and also the circumstances or conditions where you are. When someone builds a house, the surroundings will help determine which direction it will face and how many windows it will have. Surroundings stems from surround, "be all around," but originally "flood or overflow."
Vocabulary lists containing surroundings
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.
Set on a peninsula ringed by vineyards and nature reserves, St. Tropez’s surroundings still feel wild, thanks to a 1986 national law that preserves large tracts of coastline.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
The park and its surroundings exploded into a collective cheer that tickled my rib cage and resonated deep in my ear canal to the point I had to cover my ears.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
Gensler’s strategy can entail making these often blank-faced barns for computer servers look more organic to the local surroundings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Quantum phenomena are usually associated with extremely small objects such as individual atoms, molecules, or photons that must be carefully isolated from their surroundings.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
He could hop onto it and trek right on back to the RV, which, relative to his present surroundings, is the world’s lushest palace full of what Dad would call “first-world luxuries.”
From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone
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.
