of the surrounding area or environment: The tape recorder picked up too many ambient noises. The temperature in the display case was 20° lower than the ambient temperature.
2.
completely surrounding; encompassing: the ambient air.
3.
creating a certain reaction or mood, often a subconscious one, by being wherever people tend to be: ambient advertising on a shopping cart.
4.
pertaining to or noting sounds that create a peaceful and relaxed atmosphere.
5.
pertaining to or noting close and constant social contact and communication fostered by the Internet or the use of digital devices: social-networking sites that enable ambient intimacy and awareness.
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
Origin: 1590–1600; (< Middle French) < Latinambient- (stem of ambiēns, present participle of ambīre to go around), equivalent to amb-ambi- + -i- go + -ent--ent
1590s, "surrounding, encircling," from L. ambientem (nom. ambiens) "going round," prp. of ambire "to go around," from amb- "around" (see ambi-) + ire "go." The ground sense of "revolving" led to "encircling, lying all around."