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.
As a band played “The Blue Danube,” she blocked out her hellish surroundings and imagined herself on stage in Budapest, dancing to Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026
Historic England recommended the cottage for listed status and its East of England regional director, Tony Calladine, said it was "a rare record of how people once depended on their natural surroundings".
From BBC • May 13, 2026
Researchers believe this strange asymmetry could be caused by active processes within the system, such as fresh material falling into the disk or interactions with nearby surroundings.
From Science Daily • May 12, 2026
Travel often combines unfamiliar surroundings with relaxing experiences.
From Science Daily • May 4, 2026
I scan with my eyes from side to side at the surroundings to get a bigger picture like the eye doctor told me I should.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
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.
