umwelt

British

/ ˈʊmvɛlt /

noun

the environmental factors, collectively, that are capable of affecting the behaviour of an animal or individual

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of umwelt

C20: from German Umwelt environment

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.

AI can find correlations between audio, video, chemical analysis, or any other kind of measurements that may create a sperm whale’s umwelt, which Whitehead agreed can be expected to lead to exciting new discoveries.

From Salon • Aug. 23, 2024

One of the terms used in the book is the notion of umwelt, which is this notion of the lived experience of organisms.

From Scientific American • Feb. 7, 2023

Yong structures “An Immense World” around the German noun umwelt, “the part of those surroundings that an animal can sense and experience — its perceptual world.”

From Seattle Times • Jul. 6, 2022

This is because your umwelt is the only one you’ve ever known.

From Washington Post • Jul. 1, 2022

Nagel argues that even a scientist who learns everything there is to know about echolocation can never really imagine a bat’s experience, its umwelt.

From Washington Post • Jul. 1, 2022

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023