atmosphere

• atmosphære (archaic)

Borrowed from French atmosphère, from New Latin atmosphaera, from Ancient Greek ἀτμός (atmós, “steam”) + σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “sphere”); corresponding to atmo- +‎ -sphere.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæt.məsˌfɪə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (UK):

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈætməsˌfɪɹ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /atˈmɒsˌfiːɾ/, (non-rhotic) /-ija/
• Hyphenation: at‧mos‧phere

atmosphere (countable and uncountable, plural atmospheres)

2. The gases surrounding the Earth or any astronomical body.

   Meronyms: see Thesaurus:atmosphere

   Coordinate terms: hydrosphere, biosphere

   • 1988 April 14, Richard Fifield, “Frozen assets of the ice cores”, in New Scientist, number 1608, page 28:

     To most people, the huge ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland are merely water that once was snow. To glaciologists and climatologists, they are storehouses of the Earth's former atmospheres.

   • 2023 December 27, Mindy Weisberger, “Ancient bricks baked when Nebuchadnezzar II was king absorbed a power surge in Earth’s magnetic field”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Earth is surrounded by a magnetosphere — an invisible bubble of magnetism generated by the powerful churning of molten metals at Earth’s core. It prevents our atmosphere from being stripped away by solar winds blasting it from the sun. While the magnetosphere has been a constant presence for billions of years, its strength waxes and wanes over time.

4. The air in a particular place.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 2:

     The last hue of crimson had died away in the west, and the depth of the rich purple atmosphere was unbroken.

   • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:

     Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; […].

6. (figuratively) The conditions (such as music, illumination etc.) that can influence the mood felt in an environment.

   Synonyms: air, ambiance

8. (figuratively) The apparent mood felt in an environment.

   Synonyms: feeling, mood

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XX”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 33:

     For by the hearth the children sit
     ⁠Cold in that atmosphere of Death,
     ⁠And scarce endure to draw the breath,
     Or like to noiseless phantoms flit: […]

   • 1984, Ben Findon, Eddie Tucker, Steve Rodway, “Atmosphere”, in I Love a Party, performed by Russ Abbot:

     Oh, what an atmosphere / I love a party with a happy atmosphere

10. A unit of measurement for pressure equal to 101325 Pa (symbol: atm), approximately the atmospheric pressure at sea level.
    • 1959, The Canadian Patent Office Record and Register of Copyrights‎^[2], volume 87, page 6658:

      A process for preparing normally solid high molecular weight, hydrocarbon polymers which comprises heating and reacting carbon monoxide with hydrogen at a temperature of 125 ° to 350 °C, under a pressure of at least 30 atmospheres and in contact with a phosphomolybdic compound represented by the formula P₂Mo_20–24O_2–60.

12. (television, film, uncountable) Extras in a scene who have no spoken lines.
    • 2006, Los Angeles Magazine, volume 51, number 2, page 100:

      Central Casting is in the business of extras, also known as atmosphere or background actors […]

    • 2013, Kerry Segrave, Extras of Early Hollywood: A History of the Crowd, 1913-1945, page 38:

      "It is estimated conservatively that there are some 50,000 would-be film extras in and around the celluloid capital, persons who would jump at the opportunity to appear as atmosphere in pictures," Scott concluded.

    • 2015, William R. Phillippe, The Pastor's Diary:

      By the way, I discovered that we were not extras but background, as far as the director was concerned; and for the producer, we were atmosphere.