atmosphere

• atmosphære (archaic)

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæt.məsˌfɪə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈætməsˌfɪɹ/

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atmosphere (plural atmospheres)

1. The gases surrounding the Earth or any astronomical body.
2. The air in a particular place.
   • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, OCLC 7780546; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., 55 Fifth Avenue, [1933], OCLC 2666860, 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; […].

3. (figuratively) The apparent mood felt in an environment.
4. A unit of measurement for pressure equal to 101325 Pa (symbol: atm)

• (mood): air, ambiance, feeling, mood

• See also Thesaurus:atmosphere

• atmospheric
• atmospherics

• ambiance, ambience
• mood