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.
A manicured lawn can act as a mirror, reflecting heat to surrounding plants, whereas native plants absorb and deflect that heat.
From Salon • Jul. 31, 2022
Our outdoor shower is irrigated so that the water goes to the surrounding plants and trees.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2021
It then goes onto feed surrounding plants, or it filters through sand deep in the ground to make its way back to Lake Michigan.
From The Guardian • Sep. 25, 2017
That the stolons are thus aided in passing over obstacles and in winding between the stems of the surrounding plants, the observations above given render almost certain.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
These will also be shaded and otherwise affected by the nature of the surrounding plants.
From Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom by Darwin, Charles
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.
