Definitions for surface
ˈsɜr fɪssur·face

Princeton's WordNet(4.00 / 6 votes)Rate this definition:

1. surfacenoun

   the outer boundary of an artifact or a material layer constituting or resembling such a boundary

   "there is a special cleaner for these surfaces"; "the cloth had a pattern of red dots on a white surface"

2. surfacenoun

   the extended two-dimensional outer boundary of a three-dimensional object

   "they skimmed over the surface of the water"; "a brush small enough to clean every dental surface"; "the sun has no distinct surface"

3. surface, Earth's surfacenoun

   the outermost level of the land or sea

   "earthquakes originate far below the surface"; "three quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by water"

4. surfacenoun

   a superficial aspect as opposed to the real nature of something

   "it was not what it appeared to be on the surface"

5. open, surfacenoun

   information that has become public

   "all the reports were out in the open"; "the facts had been brought to the surface"

6. airfoil, aerofoil, control surface, surfaceadjective

   a device that provides reactive force when in motion relative to the surrounding air; can lift or control a plane in flight

7. surfaceverb

   on the surface

   "surface materials of the moon"

8. surface, come up, rise up, riseverb

   come to the surface

9. coat, surfaceverb

   put a coat on; cover the surface of; furnish with a surface

   "coat the cake with chocolate"

10. come on, come out, turn up, surface, show upverb

    appear or become visible; make a showing

    "She turned up at the funeral"; "I hope the list key is going to surface again"

GCIDE(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Surfaceverb

   To rise from the depths of a liquid to the surface; as, the submarine surfaced to recharge its batteries.

2. Surfaceverb

   To become known or public; -- said of information.

3. Surfaceverb

   To show up, as a person who was in hiding; as, he absconded with the payroll and surfaced in Argentina.

Wiktionary(3.33 / 3 votes)Rate this definition:

1. surfacenoun

   The up-side of a flat object such as a table, or of a liquid.

2. surfacenoun

   The outside hull of a tangible object.

3. surfacenoun

   The locus of an equation (especially one with exactly two degrees of freedom) in a more-than-two-dimensional space.

4. surfaceverb

   To provide something with a surface.

5. surfaceverb

   To apply a surface to something.

6. surfaceverb

   To rise to the surface.

7. surfaceverb

   To come out of hiding.

8. surfaceverb

   For information or facts to become known.

9. surfaceverb

   To work a mine near the surface.

10. surfaceverb

    To appear or be found.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Surfacenoun

   the exterior part of anything that has length and breadth; one of the limits that bound a solid, esp. the upper face; superficies; the outside; as, the surface of the earth; the surface of a diamond; the surface of the body

   Etymology: [F. See Sur-, and Face, and cf. Superficial.]

2. Surfacenoun

   hence, outward or external appearance

   Etymology: [F. See Sur-, and Face, and cf. Superficial.]

3. Surfacenoun

   a magnitude that has length and breadth without thickness; superficies; as, a plane surface; a spherical surface

   Etymology: [F. See Sur-, and Face, and cf. Superficial.]

4. Surfacenoun

   that part of the side which is terminated by the flank prolonged, and the angle of the nearest bastion

   Etymology: [F. See Sur-, and Face, and cf. Superficial.]

5. Surfaceverb

   to give a surface to; especially, to cause to have a smooth or plain surface; to make smooth or plain

   Etymology: [F. See Sur-, and Face, and cf. Superficial.]

6. Surfaceverb

   to work over the surface or soil of, as ground, in hunting for gold

   Etymology: [F. See Sur-, and Face, and cf. Superficial.]

Freebase(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Surface

   In mathematics, specifically, in topology, a surface is a two-dimensional, topological manifold. The most familiar examples are those that arise as the boundaries of solid objects in ordinary three-dimensional Euclidean space R³ — for example, the surface of a ball. On the other hand, there are surfaces, such as the Klein bottle, that cannot be embedded in three-dimensional Euclidean space without introducing singularities or self-intersections. To say that a surface is "two-dimensional" means that, about each point, there is a coordinate patch on which a two-dimensional coordinate system is defined. For example, the surface of the Earth is a two-dimensional sphere, and latitude and longitude provide two-dimensional coordinates on it. The concept of surface finds application in physics, engineering, computer graphics, and many other disciplines, primarily in representing the surfaces of physical objects. For example, in analyzing the aerodynamic properties of an airplane, the central consideration is the flow of air along its surface.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Surface

   sur′fās, n. the exterior part of anything.—adj. Sur′faced, having a surface.—ns. Sur′faceman, a miner employed in open-air working: a workman employed in keeping a railway-bed in repair; Sur′face-print′ing, printing from a relief surface, as cotton-cloth; Sur′facer, one who, or that which, smooths or levels a surface; Sur′face-ten′sion, in liquids, that property in virtue of which a liquid surface behaves as if it were a stretched elastic membrane—say a sheet of india-rubber; Sur′face-wa′ter, drainage-water; Sur′facing, the act of giving a certain surface to anything. [Fr., from sur—L. super, and face—L. facies.]

The Standard Electrical Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Surface

   A galvanic battery is arranged in surface when all the positive plates are connected together and all the negative plates are also connected. This makes it equivalent to one large cell, the surface of whose plates would be equal to the aggregate surface of the plates of the battery. It is also used as an adjective, as "a surface arrangement of battery."

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. surface

   In fortification, that part of the side which is terminated by the flank prolonged, and the angle of the nearest bastion; the double of this line with the curtain is equal to the exterior side.

Rap Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. surface

   Membership Unknown Allies Crips, Bloods, Piru, and Nuestra Familia Rivals Zoner Nation and Various gangs

Editors Contribution(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. surface

   A type of material.

   The surface of the cooker was made of a variety of materials.

   Submitted by MaryC on February 27, 2020  

2. surface

   An area or space.

   The surface of the desk was ample for them to work efficiently.

   Submitted by MaryC on April 14, 2020  

Suggested Resources(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. surface

   Song lyrics by surface -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by surface on the Lyrics.com website.

Matched Categories

1. • Artifact
   • Aspect
   • Boundary
   • Cover
   • Public Knowledge

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'surface' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1099

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'surface' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2831

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'surface' in Nouns Frequency: #431

How to pronounce surface?

1. Alex

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

How to say surface in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of surface in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of surface in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of surface in a Sentence

1. Safety Board:

   A 9n314m warhead detonated outside the aeroplane to the left side of the cockpit. This fits the kind of warhead installed in the Buk surface-to-air missile system.

2. Randolph Bourne:

   Few people even scratch the surface, much less exhaust the contemplation of their own experience.

3. Thomas Rimmele:

   The Inouye Solar Telescope's all about the magnetic field, to unravel the Sun's biggest mysteries, we have to not only be able to clearly see these tiny structures from 93 million miles away but very precisely measure their magnetic field strength and direction near the surface and trace the field as it extends out into the million-degree corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun.

4. Jean Baudrillard:

   A society which allows an abominable event to burgeon from its dung heap and grow on its surface is like a man who lets a fly crawl unheeded across his face or saliva dribble from his mouth -- either epileptic or dead.

5. Emily Gilbert:

   When we corrected the star's parameters, the sizes of its planets dropped, and we realized the outermost one was about the size of Earth and in the habitable zone, additionally, in 11 months of data we saw no flares from the star, which improves the chances TOI 700 d is habitable and makes it easier to model its atmospheric and surface conditions.

Images & Illustrations of surface

Popularity rank by frequency of use