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surface area

American  
[sur-fis air-ee-uh] / ˈsɜr fɪs ˌɛər i ə /

noun

surface areas plural
  1. the total space occupied by all surfaces or faces of an object.


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.

See Examples For:

These two-in-one shorts layer a lightweight shell over a liner that’s constructed from cloud-shaped fibers which boost the surface area sweat can evaporate from.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 21, 2026

It said the total area corresponded to "only 0.18 percent of Turkey's surface area", denouncing efforts to "tarnish the mining sector".

From Barron's May 15, 2026

Children also have higher respiratory rates than adults, as well as larger lung surface area relative to their body size, resulting in higher doses of pollution per breath.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 3, 2026

When you shape the loaf yourself, you create more surface area.

From Salon Mar. 11, 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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