ambient

English

Etymology

From Latin ambiēns (“going around”), from ambiō (“go around”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈæm.bi.ənt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Adjective

ambient (comparative more ambient, superlative most ambient)

1. Encompassing on all sides; surrounding; encircling; enveloping.

   A cup of warm tea eventually cools to the ambient temperature.

   • 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the book number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     This which yields or fills all space / The ambient air wide interfused

   • 1715, [Alexander] Pope, The Temple of Fame: A Vision, London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 9:

     Then gazing up, a glorious Pile beheld, / VVhoſe tovv'ring Summit ambient Clouds conceal'd.

2. (music) Evoking or creating an atmosphere: atmospheric.
3. Relating to, or suitable for, storage at room temperature.

   ambient food

   ambient warehousing

4. (mathematics) Containing objects or describing a setting that one is interested in.
   • 1996, Moshe Machover, Set Theory, Logic and Their Limitations, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 282:

     These, then, are characterizations of the system of natural numbers within an ambient set theory. And they seem to work, in the sense that in a sufficiently strong set theory it can be shown that Peano's axioms have (up to isomorphism) a unique model (cf. Rem. 6.1.8).

   • 2008, Akihiro Kanamori, The Higher Infinite: Large Cardinals in Set Theory from Their Beginnings, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 369:

     As much of the work in determinacy must proceed without AC, ZF serves as the ambient theory for this section, and uses of AC will be explicitly noted, reversing the usual procedure.

   • 2011, Henry W. Haslach Jr., Maximum Dissipation Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics and its Geometric Structure, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 163:

     A point in the manifold is classically represented by a vector in the ambient space.

Derived terms

• nonambient
• subambient
• superambient

 

Translations

encompassing on all sides

• Bulgarian: околен (bg) (okolen), заобикалящ (bg) (zaobikaljašt)
• Catalan: ambient (ca)
• Czech: obklopující, okolní (cs)
• Finnish: ympäröivä (fi); ympäristön (fi) (of ambiance)
• Georgian: გარშემორტყმული (garšemorṭq̇muli)
• Icelandic: umlykjandi m, allt um kring, umhverfis- (is)
• Latvian: visaptverošs, ietverošs, apkārt esošs
• Malay: sekitar (ms), sekeliling (ms)
• Marathi: नी घेरलेले (nī gherlele)
• Persian: محیط (fa), محیطی (fa)
• Polish: otaczający
• Portuguese: ambiente (pt)
• Russian: окружа́ющий (ru) (okružájuščij)
• Swedish: omgivande (sv)

(music) evoking or creating an atmosphere

• Finnish: tunnelmallinen (fi)
• Georgian: ემბიენტი (embienṭi), ემბიენტური მუსიკა (embienṭuri musiḳa)
• Italian: ambientale (it)
• Latvian: ambientā mūzika
• Marathi: वातावरण (vātāvraṇ)
• Persian: امبینت
• Polish: atmosferyczny (pl)
• Portuguese: ambiente (pt)

Noun

ambient (countable and uncountable, plural ambients)

1. Something that surrounds; encompassing material, substance or shape.
   • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia:

     Much after this same manner, when the Air is exceeding cold through which it passes; do we find the drops of Rain, falling from the Clouds, congealed into round Hail-stones by the freezing Ambient.

2. (astrology) The atmosphere; the surrounding air or sky; atmospheric components collectively such as air, clouds, water vapour, hail, etc.
   • 1662 Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Dialogue 2):

     It might be also, that attracted by that great void Vacuum ... all the ambients would be rarified, and particularly, the air.

3. (uncountable, music) A type of modern music that creates a relaxing and peaceful atmosphere.
   • 1996, SPIN, volume 12, number 3, page 116:

     Ambient can be flabby synth mulch that needs to access cyberism and external philosophies to convince you you're not being scammed.

Synonyms

• (music): ambient music, chillout

Derived terms

• ambient device
• ambient findability
• ambient food
• ambient house
• ambient-like
• ambiently
• ambientness
• ambient pressure
• illbient
• psybient

Descendants

• → Polish: ambient

Translations

Something that surrounds

• Catalan: ambient (ca) m
• Czech: prostředí (cs) n
• Finnish: ympäristö (fi), ympäröivä (fi)
• Polish: otoczenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: ambiente (pt) m
• Russian: окружа́ющая среда́ (ru) f (okružájuščaja sredá)
• Swedish: omgivande (sv)

Type of modern music

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 氛圍／氛围 (zh) (fēnwéi)

• Esperanto: etosmuziko
• Finnish: ambient-musiikki
• Italian: ambient (it) m
• Japanese: 環境 (ja) (かんきょう, kankyō), アンビエント (anbiento)
• Latvian: ambientā mūzika
• Polish: ambient (pl) m
• Portuguese: ambient m
• Russian: эмбие́нт (ru) m (embijént)

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “ambient”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

References

• “ambient”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “ambient”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ambientem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [əm.biˈen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [əm.biˈent]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [am.biˈent]

Adjective

ambient m or f (masculine and feminine plural ambients)

1. ambient

Derived terms

• ambiental
• ambientar
• medi ambient

Noun

ambient m (plural ambients)

1. ambience, atmosphere
2. environment

Further reading

• “ambient” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “ambient”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “ambient” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “ambient” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

ambient (strong nominative masculine singular ambienter, not comparable)

1. (very rare, widely unintelligible) ambient

Declension

Positive forms of ambient (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist ambient	sie ist ambient	es ist ambient	sie sind ambient
strong declension (without article)	nominative	ambienter	ambiente	ambientes	ambiente
	genitive	ambienten	ambienter	ambienten	ambienter
	dative	ambientem	ambienter	ambientem	ambienten
	accusative	ambienten	ambiente	ambientes	ambiente
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der ambiente	die ambiente	das ambiente	die ambienten
	genitive	des ambienten	der ambienten	des ambienten	der ambienten
	dative	dem ambienten	der ambienten	dem ambienten	den ambienten
	accusative	den ambienten	die ambiente	das ambiente	die ambienten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein ambienter	eine ambiente	ein ambientes	(keine) ambienten
	genitive	eines ambienten	einer ambienten	eines ambienten	(keiner) ambienten
	dative	einem ambienten	einer ambienten	einem ambienten	(keinen) ambienten
	accusative	einen ambienten	eine ambiente	ein ambientes	(keine) ambienten

Ladin

Noun

ambient m (plural ambienc)

1. environment

Latin

Verb

ambient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of ambiō

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English ambient. First attested in 1996.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈam.bjɛnt/
• Rhymes: -ambjɛnt
• Syllabification: am‧bient

Noun

ambient m inan

1. (music) ambient (type of modern music that creates a relaxing and peaceful atmosphere) [+case = ] [+ prep (case) = ]

Declension

Declension of ambient

	singular
nominative	ambient
genitive	ambientu
dative	ambientowi
accusative	ambient
instrumental	ambientem
locative	ambiencie
vocative	ambiencie

Derived terms

adjective

• ambientowy

 

Adjective

ambient (not comparable, indeclinable, no derived adverb)

1. (relational, music) ambient (of or pertaining to the genre)

   Synonym: ambientowy

Further reading

• ambient in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• ambient in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• ambient in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego

Portuguese

Noun

ambient m (uncountable)

1. (music) ambient (genre of electronic music with a slow, atmospheric tone)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ambient.

Noun

ambient n (plural ambienturi)

1. ambiance, atmosphere, environment

Declension

Declension of ambient

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) ambient	ambientul	(niște) ambienturi	ambienturile
genitive/dative	(unui) ambient	ambientului	(unor) ambienturi	ambienturilor
vocative	ambientule		ambienturilor