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area definition

area (er′ē ə)

noun

  1. a level surface or piece of ground
  2. a part of the earth's surface; region; tract
  3. the measure of a bounded region on a plane or of the surface of a solid
  4. a yard of a building
  5. a part of a house, lot, district, city, etc. having a specific use or character dining area, play area, commercial area
  6. a part of any surface, as of an organism, or a particular zone, as of the cerebral cortex
  7. scope or extent, as of an operation

Etymology: L, vacant place, courtyard, prob. (in sense “arid, bare place”) < arere, to be dry: see ash

Related Forms:

  • areal ar′·eal adjective

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:

idioms area idiom

medical area definition - medical

area Synonyms

area

n.

  1. An expanse

    stretch, distance, space; see expanse.

  2. A physical unit

    section, lot, neighborhood, plot, zone, sector, patch, square, quarter, block, precinct, ward, field, meridian, territory, district, locality, ghetto, township, region, tract, belt, enclosure, parcel, division, city, parish, diocese, principality, dominion, duchy, kingdom, empire, state; see also measure 1, region 1.

  3. Scope

    sphere, domain, range, operation; see field 4.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

area Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • expertise: All instructors are well qualified to teach their areas of expertise.

Converse of object

  • surround: It offers free door locks and personal attack to 1,800 homes in Cardiff and surrounding area each year.

Adjective modifier

  • rural: There were also property qualifications for people living in rural areas.

Noun used with modifier

  • conservation: Conservation Areas: Areas of special architectural or historic interest, the character of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance.
area usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

area quotes

The modern reader (or viewer, or listener: let's include everybody) is perilously overloaded. His attention is, to use the latest lingo,'targeted' by powerful forces† Our consciousness is a staging area, a field of operations for all kinds of enterprises, which make free use of it.

-Bellow, Saul

The cold reaches of the universe must not become the new area of an even colder war.

-Kennedy,John F(itzgerald)

All art is solitaryand the studio is a torture area.

-Liberman, Alexander

area quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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MLA Style

"area." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/area>

APA Style

area. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/area

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