| Environment 1. (n.) Act of environing; state of being environed. 2. (n.) That which environs or surrounds; surrounding conditions, influences, or forces, by which living forms are influenced and modified in their growth and development. Thesaurus Entries ambience, ambient, atmosphere, backdrop, background, cincture, circling, circumambience, circumambiency, circumcincture, circumflexion, circumjacence, circumposition, circumstances, climate, conditions, containment, context, ecosystem, embracement, encincture, encirclement, enclosure, encompassment, enfoldment, envelopment, environs, existing conditions, full particulars, girding, girdling, habitat, inclusion, ins and outs, involvement, locale, medium, milieu, mise-en-scene, set of conditions, setting, situation, status, status quo, surrounding, surroundings, territory, total situation, whole picture |