exterior
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
About the outside parts or surface of something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihkstihreeerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪksˈtɪɹiɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Relating to the outside parts or surface of something.
Being from outside a country; foreign.
noun
The region that is outside of something
“A locked door separates the interior of the building from its exterior.”
The outer side or surface of something
The outside part, parts or surface of something.
Foreign lands.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Relating to the outside parts or surface of something.
Used this way, exterior is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use exterior
- “The sticker was attached to the exterior of the package.”noun
- “She is our new minister of the exterior.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The supplement of an interior angle of a polygon.
A doorway that allows entrance to or exit from a building.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.