surface

English Online Dictionary. What means surface‎? What does surface mean?

English

Etymology

From French surface. Doublet of superficies.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːfɪs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝːfəs/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜː(ɾ).feːs/, /sa(ɾ)ˈfeːs/

Noun

surface (plural surfaces)

1. The overside or up-side of a flat object such as a table, or of a liquid.
2. The outside hull of a tangible object.
3. (figurative) Outward or external appearance.
4. (mathematics, geometry) The locus of an equation (especially one with exactly two degrees of freedom) in a more-than-two-dimensional space.
5. (crosswording) The story or image suggested by a cryptic clue, when read as a whole sentence without considering wordplay.

Synonyms

• overside
• superfice (archaic)

Derived terms

Related terms

• surficial

Translations

Verb

surface (third-person singular simple present surfaces, present participle surfacing, simple past and past participle surfaced)

1. (transitive) To provide something with a surface.
2. (transitive) To apply a surface to something.

3. (intransitive) To rise to the surface.

4. (transitive) To bring to the surface.
5. (intransitive, figurative) To come out of hiding.
6. (intransitive, of information, facts, content, etc) To become known or apparent; to appear or be found.
   • 2024 May 24, Keith Habersberger, "The Try Guys Tell All" (video on Anthony Padilla's YouTube channel), 5:20:

     They're not growing. Why would I surface them to new people? [...That] makes our video surface less, and that makes the next video surface less.

7. (transitive) To make (information, facts, content, etc) known.
   • 2024 May 24, Keith Habersberger, "The Try Guys Tell All" (video on Anthony Padilla's YouTube channel), 5:20:

     They're not growing. Why would I surface them to new people? [...That] makes our video surface less, and that makes the next video surface less.

8. (intransitive) To work a mine near the surface.

Translations

French

Etymology

From sur- +‎ face, calque of Latin superficies.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /syʁ.fas/
• Homophones: surfaces, surfacent

Noun

surface f (plural surfaces)

1. surface

   Near-synonym: superficie

Derived terms

Further reading

• “surface”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.