area
/ˈɛːrɪə
/noun
1A region or part of a town, a country, or the world: rural areas of Britain people living in the area are at risk...
- Macquarie held the view that rural areas should have towns constructed as service centres and places of government.
- Up to 100,000 people move from towns into rural areas a year, said the minister.
- Thirty-seven percent of those travelers were heading to small towns or rural areas.
Synonyms
district, region, zone, sector, quarter;
locality, locale, neighbourhood, community, domain, realm, sphere, environment, territory;
part, section, parish, spot, patch;
tract, stretch, sweep, belt
informal neck of the woods
British informal manor
North American informal turf
1.1 [with modifier] A space allocated for a specific use: the dining area...
- Outside, the front garden features a large lawn, a tiled patio area and space to park a fleet of cars.
- It would also include a new corridor, an extended reception area and improved office space.
- The interconnecting breakfast area has plenty of space for a family-sized table.
Synonyms
section, space, sector, part, portion, footprint
1.2A part of an object or surface: areas of the body...
- A system of longitudinal energy zones is believed to provide the link between the reflex areas and the body parts.
- Uranium molecules in the blood can travel to every part of the body, including the areas where sperm and eggs are.
- Compared to men, women feel pain in more areas of their body and for longer durations.
1.3 (the area) Soccer short for penalty area.Ronaldo rushes into the area and draws a decent save from Mirzapour with his left foot....
- Milton teased him with a clever low free-kick from outside the area that swished past the wall and out of reach at the near post.
- Riggott tripped Alan Mahon on the left side of the area and Dunn sent Oakes the wrong way from the penalty spot.
2The extent or measurement of a surface or piece of land: the area of a triangle [mass noun]: the room is twelve square feet in area...
- The green is four feet square in area, and cut on the side of a 75-degree slope.
- By the time the job was done, the bedroom had decreased in area by four square metres.
- The two areas had a varied degree of protection against poaching despite being of a similar size in area.
Synonyms
expanse, extent, size, scope, compass;
measurements, dimensions, proportions;
square footage, acreage
3A subject or range of activity or interest: the key areas of science...
- General repairs and maintenance - outside these three key areas - are not subject to the new laws.
- They share this preoccupation with other disciplines and interdisciplinary subject areas in the humanities.
- States are rational or instrumental actors, always seeking to maximize their interests in all issue areas.
Synonyms
domain, sector, department, province, territory, compartment, line;
field, sphere, discipline, realm
4 [usually as modifier] A sunken enclosure giving access to the basement of a building: the area steps
Derivatives
areal
- The areal density estimation method is not a direct headcount, but this is in fact an international standard.
- This pattern remained consistent through time, although a 14% increase in seagrass areal extent was recorded over the study period.
- The present-day areal extent of the province is highly asymmetric with most of the outcrop preserved today in the Parana basin, on the South American continent.
Origin
Mid 16th century (in the sense 'space allocated for a specific purpose'): from Latin, literally 'vacant piece of level ground'.
Originally a ‘space allocated for a specific purpose’, area is from Latin, literally ‘a vacant piece of level ground’. The historical unit of measurement, the are, dating from the late 18th century, came via French from Latin area.