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.
Admitting to being starstruck in the locker room at Roland Garros by the likes of Alexander Zverev, Samuel is slowly adjusting to his new surroundings.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
Over the last couple of decades, the forest’s surroundings have developed fast: 200,000 new homes have been built around Bordeaux.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
Florence and its surroundings move Muratov profoundly, especially because this region best expresses the 15th-century Renaissance, or Quattrocento, in which he senses “the beating of a great heart pulsing with pure and noble blood.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Bree is conscious of her surroundings but won’t withstand anyone’s mistreatment.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
Her eyes flicked side to side, taking in her surroundings.
From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat
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.
