surface area
Americannoun
-
surface areas
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of surface area
First recorded in 1820–30
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.
When a piece of plastic breaks down into microscopically small components, its total surface area goes up exponentially.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
We can measure it, and if the planet itself were expanding, that surface area would increase over time.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
But he said there was no significant increase in its surface area between Wednesday and Thursday, despite water continuing to flow into the lake.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Lake Ontario is the smallest by surface area of the five Great Lakes, which straddle the border between the United States and Canada.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
There are many valleys in the mountains of the mind, convolutions that greatly increase the surface area available in the cerebral cortex for information storage in a skull of limited size.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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