Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

areal

[air-ee-uh]

Origin

noun

any particular extent of space or surface; part: the dark areas in the painting; the dusty area of the room.

a geographical region; tract: the Chicago area; the unsettled areas along the frontier.

any section reserved for a specific function: the business area of a town; the dining area of a house.

extent, range, or scope: inquiries that embrace the whole area of science.

field of study, or a branch of a field of study: Related areas of inquiry often reflect borrowed notions.

EXPAND

a piece of unoccupied ground; an open space.

the space or site on which a building stands; the yard attached to or surrounding a house.

British. areaway (def. 1).

the quantitative measure of a plane or curved surface; two-dimensional extent.

10.

Anatomy. a zone of the cerebral cortex having a specific function: The damage to Broca's area affected his speech.

COLLAPSE

Origin:
1530–40; < Latin ārea vacant piece of level ground, open space in a town, threshing floor; perhaps akin to ārēre to be dry. See arid

Related forms

ar·e·al, adjective

ar·e·al·ly, adverb

Can be confused: area, aria.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To areal

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Areal is always a great word to know.

So is callithumpian. Does it mean:

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Collins

World English Dictionary

area (ˈɛərɪə)

—n
1.	any flat, curved, or irregular expanse of a surface
2.	a. the extent of a two-dimensional surface enclosed within a specified boundary or geometric figure: the area of Ireland; the area of a triangle
	b. the two-dimensional extent of the surface of a solid, or of some part thereof, esp one bounded by a closed curve: the area of a sphere
3.	a section, portion, or part: an area of the body; an area of the sky
4.	region; district; locality: a mountainous area
5.	a. a geographical division of administrative responsibility
	b. (as modifier): area manager
6.	a part or section, as of a building, town, etc, having some specified function or characteristic: reception area; commercial area; slum area
7.	Also called: areaway a sunken area, usually enclosed, giving light, air, and sometimes access to a cellar or basement
8.	the range, extent, or scope of anything
9.	a subject field or field of study
10.	any unoccupied or unused flat open piece of ground
11.	the ground on which a building stands, or the ground surrounding a building
12.	anatomy any of the various regions of the cerebral cortex
13.	computing any part of a computer memory assigned to store data of a specified type

[C16: from Latin: level ground, open space, threshing-floor; related to ārēre to be dry]

'areal

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

area

1530s, "vacant piece of ground," from L. area "level ground, open space," of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to arere "to become dry," on notion of a burned clearing or dry, bare space. The generic sense of "amount of surface (whether open or not) contained within any set of limits" is from 1845. Area

EXPAND

code in N.Amer. telephone systems is attested from 1961.

areal

1670s, from L. arealis, from area (see area).

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

area ar·e·a (âr'ē-ə)
n. pl. ar·e·as or ar·e·ae (-ē-ē')