ambientadj.n.
/ˈambɪənt/, U.S. /ˈæmbiənt/, /ˈæmbjənt/ A. adj.† 2. † 3. Ambitious, aspiring. Obsolete. rare.† 4. Of the air: clear, still, pure. Obsolete.† 5. Rounded like a solid body; three-dimensional. Obsolete. rare.
1.
a. That surrounds or encircles; that lies on all sides of something; encompassing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > surrounding > [adjective]
circumjacent1490
circumstant1545
circumvoisin1548
environing?a1560
encompassing1571
ambient1572
succingent1578
embracing1590
circling1594
girdling1598
circumdant1600
rounding1600
all round?1611
circumferent1620
circumsistent1625
circuiting1632
circulating1632
encircling1632
surrounding1637
begirting1645
circumambient1648
circumstantial1650
girding1658
skirtingc1735
entwining1737
circumadjacent1780
belting1808
engirdling1843
encyclic1850
engirding1852
zoning1853
roundaboutc1860
begirding1877
wraparound1957
1572 J. Jones Bathes of Bathes Ayde iv. f. 29 Making it [sc. the body] readie to receyve the ambient infection.
1658 Sir T. Browne Garden of Cyrus i, in Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall 103 The tree of knowledge was placed in the middle of the Garden, whatever was the ambient figure.
a1763 W. Shenstone Elegies ix, in Wks. Verse & Prose (1764) I. 35 Exalted to yon ambient sky.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1784 II. 562 A captive in thy ambient arms.
1850 J. S. Blackie tr. Æschylus Lyrical Dramas II. 37 With echoing groans the ambient waste bewails Thy fate.
1912 Locomotive Engineers Jrnl. Mar. 189/2 The ambient prairie diversified by arroyos and murky patches of brush and pear, lay around us.
2010 V. Zampetti in W. A. Morgan et al. Cenozoic Carbonate Syst. Australasia 131/1 The climate of the South China Sea and the ambient land masses is dominated by the East Asian Monsoon.
b. Esp. of a fluid such as air or water: that creates a surrounding medium; enveloping.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > wrapping > [adjective] > enfolding or enveloping > in a medium > as a fluid
ambient1572
circumfused1596
circumambient1633
1572 J. Jones Benefit Bathes of Buckstones f. 2v The baths also so bravely beutified with seats round about; defended from the ambyent ayre.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vi. 481 Op'ning to the ambient light. View more context for this quotation
1715 A. Pope Temple of Fame 9 Whose tow'ring Summit ambient Clouds conceal'd.
1796 S. Vince Princ. Hydrostat. xi. 135 If the plate be cold, and the ambient fluid be warm.
1822 Amer. Med. Recorder July 500 They..make a free communication between the trachea and lungs, and the ambient water or air through the medium of the throat or fauces.
1923 Pop. Mech. Nov. 2 (advt.) [Cypress] is not affected by moisture, nor does it fill the ambient air with the ‘expensive smell’ of rotting wood.
1997 N. R. Merrett & R. L. Haedrich Deep-sea Demersal Fish & Fisheries v. 155 The predicted density of the eggs during these last stages was greater than that of the ambient sea water.
2007 F. Shearer Power Managem. Mobile Devices v. 176 A mobile device must be equipped with a photo sensor to detect the ambient luminance.
c. Designating an attribute, property, or characteristic of the surrounding environment (as pressure, warmth, light, etc.). Hence: (of such a property or characteristic) belonging to the background or environment; subtle or unobtrusive.See ambient temperature n. at Compounds.
ΚΠ
1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 31 Besides the ambient pressure that helps to keep it sustein'd, there is the Congruity of the bodies that are contiguous.
1744 J. T. Desaguliers Course Exper. Philos. II. xi. 409 If the repulsive Force of the Vapours could be increas'd or diminish'd upon the Removal or Increase of the ambient Pressure, we never should have any Rain.
1814 Med. & Physical Jrnl. July 105 The humor, distilling from their nostrils, is presently condensed by the ambient cold, much like to icicles.
1957 Protection & Functioning of Hands in Cold Climates: Conf. U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps 175 It is almost impossible to rewarm them unless you have the ambient warmth.
1991 Photo Answers July 31/1 Take a meter reading for the ambient light and set the shutter speed on your camera.
2002 A. M. Wald Exiles from Future Time 300 Lying on top of the water towers to feel the ambient heat from the water stored below.
d. Designating a quality, mood, etc., of the surrounding environment that creates a subtle or unobtrusive atmosphere; encompassing; pervasive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > spreading or diffusion > [adjective] > pervading
heady1559
rifeful1614
transfusive1677
pervading1682
pervasive1736
perfusive1817
interpenetrate1877
ambient1883
1883 E. Martin Leo's Poet. Wks. 179 Pressive is the ambient stillness, Like pensive reverie locked in silence.
1911 T.P.'s Mag. July 608/1 In the ambient calm of early morning life is good to live.
1977 E. V. Thompson Chase the Wind xv. 205 He lacked the ambient menace that had always travelled with his older brother.
a1999 D. F. Wallace Octet in Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999) 152 The weird ambient urgency you yourself feel.
2011 A. Hoskins et al. Radicalisation & Media 117 They refuse to succumb to this media-led ambient paranoia.
e. Designating a state, quality, etc., gradually and often unconsciously assimilated from one's physical, social, or cultural environment.In later use esp. as a result of repeated or continuous monitoring of social media.
ΚΠ
1968 P. Meadows in R. H. Beck et al. Curriculum Imperative 32 The ambient awareness of sharp and clamorous ideologies, as men in groups and parties stake out with increasing fierceness their identities.
1984 Poetics Today 5 764 This code..might have been inscribed on their minds without their being aware of it, brought in by the tide of accepted ideas and ambient knowledge.
2000 C. Foster in P. H. Gobster & R. B. Hull Restoring Nature iv. 91 A trivial, superficial aesthetic approach to landscape or wilderness can give way to an ambient appreciation informed by history.
2018 Managem. Decision (Nexis) 8 Jan. The constant flow of short bursts of information broadcasted via Twitter gives rise to an ambient awareness among the followers around the subject of discussion.
a. Turning, rotating, revolving. Also figurative. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > revolution or rotation > [adjective] > revolving or rotating
rolling?1518
turning1558
gyreful1566
gyring1590
revoluble1598
ambient?1614
vertiginous1680
revolving1681
rotating1757
veering1798
gyratory1815
peristrephic1816
peristrephical1827
gyral1828
gyrating1837
volutory1839
volvent1898
?1614 G. Chapman tr. Homer Odysses i. 28 The point of time wrought out by ambient years.
?1624 G. Chapman in tr. Crowne Homers Wks. Ep. Ded. sig. ¶3 Of all Arts ambient in the Orbe of Man.
1867 G. Gilfillan Night i. 33 Ere Man appeared upon this ambient globe, Night nor a mystery nor a terror was.
b. That moves round or circles about something. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement in circle or curve > [adjective] > moving in circle
circularc1450
round1565
circumfluent1583
circling1599
circumferential1610
circumferent1620
circulating1632
compassing1638
circuline1647
circumambient1648
ambient1655
surrounding1657
gyrous1688
rounding1708
whirl-about1786
circumgyratory1835
gyrant1844
circuiting1886
roundwisea1930
1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. I. ii. 11 The ambient æther..by the swiftnesse of its Motion, snatcheth, up stones from the earth.
1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. vii. 38 That the planets should naturally attain these circular Revolutions..by..impulse of ambient Bodies.
1834 B. Disraeli Revolutionary Epick i. xxxiii. 48 Ye ambient Winds That course about the quarters of the globe.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > aspiration or ambition > [adjective] > ambitious
affectioneda1533
aspiring1577
ambitious1589
affectionate1598
emulous1609
endfulla1644
ambient1647
towering1665
towery1731
assurgent1881
1647 N. Bacon Hist. Disc. Govt. 12 The Clergy..soon began to be ambient, and conceipt a new Idea of deportment.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > fine weather > [adjective] > clear
clear1297
ambient1763
the world > matter > gas > air > [adjective] > specific qualities of (the) air > thin or light
smalla1398
subtlea1398
rarefied1523
subtile1590
thin1667
volatile1698
ambient1763
1763 T. Nugent tr. J.-J. Rousseau Emilius I. ii. 173 At half a foot from the wall, the air being less ambient [Fr. moins ambiant] and more reflected, will affect your face in another manner.
1804 Gentleman's Mag. May 430/2 A clear and ambient air I leave; and pestilential vapours, smoke, and noxious mists, now assail me.
1873 A. G. Murdoch Lilts on Doric Lyre 109 Sea, skies, green woods, white snows, sun-glancing streams, Were voiced and imaged in thy tender dreams, Clear-worded, as the bright and ambient air.
1922 C. G. Harper On Road in Holland xxii. 212 In this region of flat country, with few intervening trees, and so clear and ambient a sky, you can plainly see its chief buildings.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > curved three-dimensional shape or body > [adjective]
teretea1620
ambient1801
1801 H. Fuseli Lect. Painting I. i. 22 He who decided his outline with such intelligence that it appeared ambient, and pronounced the parts that escaped the eye.
6.
a. Designating sound or sounds forming a continuous background to a situation or place, or incidental to a specific audible event; = background noise n. at background n. Additions. Sometimes also: of or relating to the environment or room in which a sound is made. Usually in ambient noise or ambient sound.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > [noun] > quality of reproduced sound
scratch1908
quality1913
surface noise1914
coloration1925
ambient noise1926
wow1932
pre-echo1935
hangover1940
presence1950
ambience1953
naturalness1966
overhang1971
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > thing heard > [noun] > sound > recorded or reproduced sound > background noise
ambient noise1926
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic phenomena > signal > [noun] > unwanted part of signal > types of
stray1901
atmospherics1905
static1905
pickup1925
ambient noise1926
background1927
ground noise1929
hum1929
Johnson noise1929
microphonic1929
thermal noise1930
parasitic1943
flicker noise1947
overhang1971
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic phenomena > signal > [adjective] > characterized by noise > types of
microphonic1919
parasitic1921
staticky1925
ambient1926
impulsive1947
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > thing heard > [adjective] > background noise
ambient1990
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > [adjective] > quality of reproduced sound
phonogenic1923
woofy1932
high fidelity1933
lo-fi1954
scratchy1961
scratchless1978
ambient1990
1926 J. Mouilbau Brit. Patent 256,431 1/1 It being even necessary in certain cases as when ambient noise is prevailing to bring the duplicate ear piece close to her ear.
1964 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. 2 431 The clicking of snapping shrimp..is a form of ambient sound when one is concentrating on the sounds of fish.
1990 Gramophone May 2086/3 The remastering is effective overall: the Concerto has lost only a little of its original ambient bloom and certainly sounds vivid.
2003 S. Brett Murder in Museum xxxiv. 272 Her eyes skimmed over the words, and she reminded herself to turn a page every now and then, as, filtering out the ambient sounds of bar-room banter and muzak, she focused her hearing on the next table.
b. In ambient music: a type of largely instrumental, electronic music, that is typically slow, soothing, and unobtrusive in style, characterized by the absence of a persistent beat, and designed to create an atmosphere of relaxation or contemplation. Also used in combination with the name of other types of popular music to denote various hybrid styles, as ambient house, ambient techno, ambient hip hop, etc.
ΚΠ
1978 B. Eno Ambient 1: Music for Airports (record sleeve notes) Over the past three years I have become interested in music as ambience... To create a distinction between my own experiments in this area and the products of various purveyors of canned music, I have begun using the term Ambient Music.
1980 Melody Maker 5 July 18/1 ‘The Plateau of Mirror’ continues the development of ambient music—background music for a supermarket society.
1989 Blitz Dec. 126/2 What we're talking about here is ‘ambient house’—a new phenomenon that appears to be a natural development.
1991 Vox Apr. 77/1 Fans of the Ambient Rap sound that 808 represent won't be disappointed with these semi-instrumentals.
1994 Rolling Stone 30 June 72/3 Selected Ambient Works 85–92..established the Cornwall..native as the pioneer of ambient techno.
2003 H. Fielding Olivia Joules & Overactive Imagination xxviii. 157 Someone had brought a boom box and put on French ambient music.
2016 Bristol Post (Nexis) 6 May Rob Mcleod is known for producing forward-thinking ambient hip hop.
c. Marketing (originally British). Designating or relating to a form of advertising which seeks to pervade the everyday environment or activity of consumers, typically by placing advertisements on common functional objects or in locations where members of the public spend large amounts of time. Also designating other forms of media, art, etc., designed to be unobtrusive or pervasive rather than requiring full attention.
ΚΠ
1995 Marketing 7 Dec. 10/5 Ads on petrol pump handles are indicative of a general trend towards ambient media entering the mainstream.
2001 Independent on Sunday 22 Apr. i. 10/4 More commonly seen ambient ads include the strips advertising McDonald's along the edge of steps at London Underground stations, and the eye-line posters on hotel and restaurant washrooms.
2004 New Statesman 6 Sept. 31/1 Highfield imagines a future of ambient television.., enhanced audio..and personal video recorders.
2005–6 Update Winter 12/1 TV and radio adverts ran throughout August and September 2005, along with ambient advertising (bus tickets etc).
2017 N. Papastergiadias Ambient Screens 209 Large screens constitute a key platform for..the new aesthetic genre of ambient art.
7. Designating a device or system that provides all-round or background light, heat, or sound to a room, space, etc., esp. in a subtle, indirect, or unobtrusive manner. Cf. senses A. 1c, A. 6a.See also ambient lighting n. 1.
ΚΠ
1963 D. P. Waite Physical Requirements for Teaching Machines using Graphic Displays (typescript) v. 42 The image surface area should not be at an angle which results in reflections or poor contrast from ambient lights or windows.
2004 Geelong Advertiser (Nexis) 6 Nov. (Property section) 51 A separate dining room adjoins, complete with beautiful French doors and an ambient heater within the open fireplace.
2007 Daily Texan (Univ. Texas, Austin) 10 Sept. (Life & Arts section) Original graffiti art adorning the walls, Japanese sneakers in bold patterns and color schemes on display, remixes of Clipse and Ghostface Killah emanating from ambient speakers.
2014 M. N. Khan Understanding LED Illumination v. 125 Traditionally, chandeliers have been utilized both as a central decorative piece and ambient luminaires to produce a reasonable level of illumination all around.
8. British. Designating goods, such as food or drink, that can be stored at the ambient temperature (usually room temperature) as opposed to being frozen or otherwise stored in a temperature-controlled environment. Also: of or relating to such goods or this method of storage.The term is often applied to food that is heat-treated, aseptically packaged, or canned to give it a long shelf life, or to products with a relatively short shelf life, such as baked goods.
ΚΠ
1975 Acta Astronautica 2 69 The ambient food was stowed in a 6-day supply and was moved by the crewmen to the galley area for intermediate stowage, preparation, and eating.
1983 Retail & Distribution Managem. May–June 14 (advt.) Support with..chilled or ambient warehousing.
2007 P. Haines Matter Public Interest xxxiv. 289 Trailers were divided into two. One area for frozen goods, the other for chilled. Ambient goods went on a separate trailer.
B. n.† 1. † 2. A person who seeks advancement or promotion. Obsolete. rare.
a. An encompassing circle or sphere; that which surrounds, encircles, or envelops something. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > surrounding > [noun] > that which surrounds > circle or sphere
ambient1574
1574 J. Jones Briefe Disc. Growing & Liuing Things sig. C.iiii A nother cause is contagiousnes which the ambient of compassing aire powreth and inbreatheth vpon those whome it doth enuiron.
1657 R. Tomlinson tr. J. de Renou Pharmaceut. Shop i, in Medicinal Dispensatory sig. Yyy2 They [sc. the leaves of sea holly] are broad asperated about their ambient [L. extremo ambitu aspera].
1748 J. Kirkby Doctr. Ultimators ix. 82 The Content of every such Ambient, is equal to the Remainder, which is left, after the Subtraction of the concave Solid V.
1864 Reader 26 Nov. 679/1 Atoms or molecules have extensive atmospheres or ambients of some kind.
1900 G. L. Jones Hist. Fantasy Venice 43 She of all the cities of the world was queen, ‘in her glorious robe of gold and purple’, in her ambient of sea and sky!
b. Astrology. With the. The sky or the heavens conceived as the medium in which the planets and other celestial objects move. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > sky, heavens > [noun] > ambient sky
ambient1686
1686 J. Goad Astro-meteorologica iii. iii. 472 ♄ and ♂, by the Repetition of the Aspect, may sometimes disturb the Ambient above a year.
1868 ‘G. Eliot’ Spanish Gypsy ii. 193 For the ambient, Though a cause regnant, is not absolute.
1917 J. Hazelrigg Astrosophic Princ. vi. 19 Man is possessed of a sidereal organism whose operations accord with the mutations in the ambient.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > request > one who requests > [noun] > one who canvasses or lobbies
ambient1651
runner1824
lobbyer1862
lobbyist1863
lobby man1934
doorstepper1976
1651 Bp. J. Hall Χειροθεσία 16 What Fair-like confluences have we there seen of zealous ambients?
3. † a. The air, esp. when regarded as the medium in which a particular process or phenomenon takes place, or as a part of a particular process or phenomenon. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1677 R. Hooke Lampas 6 The motion of ascent increasing somewhat after the nature of the motion of descent in heavy bodies, I say somewhat in that nature, for if the ascending bodies were uniformly lighter than the Ambient they would be the same.
a1728 J. Woodward Attempt Nat. Hist. Fossils Eng. (1729) 127 Upon the Cessation of the Gravity of the Ambient, to which the Fossils owe the Cohesion of their Parts, their Solidity would instantly cease.
b. A medium in which a particular process or phenomenon occurs; esp. one treated as a variable under experimental conditions.
ΚΠ
1921 Trans. Amer. Inst. Electr. Engineers 40 185 With apparatus the ambient is air or water which carries off the heat largely by convection.
2000 Jrnl. Electrochem. Soc. 147 3892 It involves the application of an electric field across wafers exposed to oxidizing and inert annealing ambients.
4.
a. The pervading tone or mood; the prevailing social, psychological, or intellectual conditions or attitudes of a time or place; circumstances; atmosphere. Frequently in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > [noun] > atmosphere or influence of a place
ambient1892
spirit of place1899
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > quality of affecting the emotions > [noun] > that which causes emotion > one who or that which stirs the emotions > atmosphere or tone causing emotion
ambient1892
mood1902
1892 E. M. Clerke tr. ‘F. Candil’ in Dublin Rev. Jan. 110 High life in the capital..furnishes the social ambient of the novel.
1914 Santa Ana (Calif.) Daily Evening Reg. 18 May 1/3 The necessity of an organization of the home more fitting to the new moral and economical conditions, social ambients, morals and hygiene of today.
1959 F. B. Pike Freedom & Reform in Lat. Amer. Introd. 2 In these ambients, it seems that reform as envisioned by a ruling clique is the only important consideration.
1968 Speculum 43 374 The literary, artistic, and musical ambients in which these manuscripts were produced.
2000 ONASA News Agency Newswire (Nexis) 18 Apr. Vujovic especially stressed the political ambient in this smaller Yugoslavia's republic and its surroundings.
b. The area surrounding or under the influence of a person or thing; (in later use) environment, surroundings.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > power > influence > [noun] > sphere of influence
pale1483
kitchen1552
demesne1597
manor1685
domain1744
ambient1902
turf1970
the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > circumstance or circumstances > [noun] > environment, setting, or background
setting1841
scenics1842
background1854
milieu1854
environment1855
conditions1856
surroundings1861
medium1865
ambient1902
1902 Harper's Mag. Aug. 480/1 In his ambient of flattering, fluttering women.
1917 H. M. Hart Recoll. & Refl. xii. 98 At death one joins his ancestors..; another remains in the ambient of his house; and the third lives in the coffin.
1974 Design (New Delhi) 18 iv. 20/2 Everything was attuned to the environment around him. The townscape in Goa is an extension of the same understanding between man and his ambient.
2013 A. Pozzi Megalithism p. xvii He seemed to have left the ambient of the forest..due to significant variations in climate.
5. The temperature of the surrounding environment, esp. when unaltered by direct human intervention; = ambient temperature n. at Compounds.
ΚΠ
1922 Proc. 45th Convent. National Electric Light Assoc. ii. 993/1 The top oil temperature is raised by increasing load and lowered by descreasing [sic] ambient.
1970 Ann. Missouri Bot. Garden 57 348 There is a gradient in the winter temperature from low ambients below freezing at the northern end of the range of the sahuaro..to higher winter temperatures at the southern end.
1998 Off Road & 4 Wheel Drive Feb. 4/1 (advt.) Pre-heating your engine/interior means assured engine starting however cold the winter ambient.
6. A type of largely instrumental, electronic music, characterized by the absence of a persistent beat, typically slow, soothing, and unobtrusive in style, and designed to create an atmosphere of relaxation or contemplation; = ambient music at sense A. 6b.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > pop music > [noun] > other pop music
a cappella1905
soundclash1925
marabi1933
doo-wop1958
filk1959
folk-rock1963
Liverpool sound1963
Mersey beat1963
Mersey sound1963
surf music1963
malombo1964
mbaqanga1964
easy listening1965
disco music1966
Motown1966
boogaloo1967
power pop1967
psychedelia1967
yé-yé1967
agitpop1968
bubblegum1968
Tamla Motown1968
Tex-Mex1968
downtempo1969
taarab1969
thrash1969
world music1969
funk1970
MOR1970
tropicalism1970
Afrobeat1971
electro-pop1971
post-rock1971
techno-pop1971
Tropicalia1971
tropicalismo1971
disco1972
Krautrock1972
schlager1973
Afropop1974
punk funk1974
disco funk1975
Europop1976
mgqashiyo1976
P-funk1976
funkadelia1977
karaoke music1977
alternative music1978
hardcore1978
psychobilly1978
punkabilly1978
R&B1978
cowpunk1979
dangdut1979
hip-hop1979
Northern Soul1979
rap1979
rapping1979
jit1980
trance1980
benga1981
New Romanticism1981
post-punk1981
rap music1981
scratch1982
scratch-music1982
synth-pop1982
electro1983
garage1983
Latin1983
Philly1983
New Age1984
New Age music1985
ambient1986
Britpop1986
gangster rap1986
house1986
house music1986
mbalax1986
rai1986
trot1986
zouk1986
bhangra1987
garage1987
hip-house1987
new school1987
old school1987
thrashcore1987
acid1988
acid house1988
acid jazz1988
ambience1988
Cantopop1988
dance1988
deep house1988
industrial1988
swingbeat1988
techno1988
dream pop1989
gangsta rap1989
multiculti1989
new jack swing1989
noise-pop1989
rave1989
Tejano1989
breakbeat1990
chill-out music1990
indie1990
new jack1990
new jill swing1990
noisecore1990
baggy1991
drum and bass1991
gangsta1991
handbag house1991
hip-pop1991
loungecore1991
psychedelic trance1991
shoegazing1991
slowcore1991
techno-house1991
gabba1992
jungle1992
sadcore1992
UK garage1992
darkcore1993
dark side1993
electronica1993
G-funk1993
sampladelia1994
trip hop1994
break1996
psy-trance1996
nu skool1997
folktronica1999
dubstep2002
Bongo Flava2003
grime2003
Bongo2004
singeli2015
1986 Sydney Morning Herald 29 Nov. 51/6 Rock doesn't die so much as become merely one of a number of competing sub-genres—soul, ambient, Latin, avant-garde, jazz, folk.
1994 N.Y. Times 13 Mar. ii. 32/4 Initially popular as music for ravers coming down after a night's mayhem, ambient has become a booming album-based genre.
2017 Mumbai Mirror (Nexis) 8 Dec. Tonight, experience his eclectic mix of ambient and techno at this gig.
Compounds
ambient temperature n. the temperature of the surrounding environment, esp. when unaltered by direct human intervention.
ΚΠ
1814 Repertory of Arts 2nd Ser. 25 55 The cotton, radiating very well, and consequently the temperature of its surface being raised above the ambient temperature, in this case plunges the phosphorus into a more elevated temperature than it would create of itself.
1939 F. E. J. Fry in F. R. Moulton Probl. Lake Biol. 132 Fish possess no hair to insulate their body from the ambient temperature.
2013 Sky at Night Apr. 74/1 This picture, a frame from a timelapse sequence of the Galaxy moving across the sky, was taken in ambient temperatures of about −40°C.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
adj.n.1572