Atmosphere Meaning
/ˈætməsˌfɪə/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe gases surrounding the Earth or any astronomical body.
nounThe air in a particular place.
Sentence Examples
This place has a mysterious atmosphere.
According to scientists, the atmosphere is getting warmer year after year.
Wind power doesn't release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The thick ____ of the planet traps heat and keeps it warm.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The Earth's ____ protects us from the harmful rays of the sun.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from French atmosphère, from New Latin atmosphaera, from Ancient Greek ἀτμός (atmós, “steam”) + σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “sphere”); corresponding to atmo- + -sphere.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1988 April 14, Richard Fifield, “Frozen assets of the ice cores”, in New Scientist, number 1608, page 28:
"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."
— 2023 December 27, Mindy Weisberger, “Ancient bricks baked when Nebuchadnezzar II was king absorbed a power surge in Earth’s magnetic field”, in CNN:
"The last hue of crimson had died away in the west, and the depth of the rich purple atmosphere was unbroken."
— 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 2:
"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;[…]."
— 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:
"This year of 1905 also saw the completion of the electrification of the Underground, which certainly improved the atmosphere, and made travelling easier and more comfortable, although, at first, not too reliable."
— 1957 July 26, M. D. Greville, “A Diamond Jubilee of Railway Memories”, in Railway Magazine, page 459:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The thick ____ of the planet traps heat and keeps it warm.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The Earth's ____ protects us from the harmful rays of the sun.