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.
To win with 10 players in these surroundings, frantic to the point of hysteria as 11 agonising minutes were added on, only underscores just how good this was.
From BBC • Jul. 6, 2026
Researchers can now directly adjust both the direction and speed of a molecule's rotation, making it possible to investigate how molecules interact with their quantum surroundings at different rotational frequencies.
From Science Daily • Jul. 4, 2026
Algae can powerfully impact their surroundings, for good or ill.
From Slate • Jun. 27, 2026
Now, he says, the company is seeing users buy glasses to get always-on access to an AI bot, and ask questions about their surroundings.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 26, 2026
Percy stood over her protectively, scanning their surroundings.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
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.
