INTERIOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Interior mean? 

• INTERIOR (noun)
  The noun INTERIOR has 3 senses:

1. the region that is inside of something

2. the inner or enclosed surface of something

3. the United States federal department charged with conservation and the development of natural resources; created in 1849

  Familiarity information: INTERIOR used as a noun is uncommon.

• INTERIOR (adjective)
  The adjective INTERIOR has 5 senses:

1. situated within or suitable for inside a building

2. inside the country

3. located inward

4. inside and toward a center

5. of or coming from the middle of a region or country

  Familiarity information: INTERIOR used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INTERIOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The region that is inside of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

inside; interior

Hypernyms ("interior" is a kind of...):

part; region (the extended spatial location of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "interior"):

midland (the interior part of a country)

midst; thick (the location of something surrounded by other things)

penetralium (the innermost parts)

Derivation:

interiorize (incorporate within oneself; make subjective or personal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The inner or enclosed surface of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

inside; interior

Hypernyms ("interior" is a kind of...):

surface (the extended two-dimensional outer boundary of a three-dimensional object)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "interior"):

belly (the hollow inside of something)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The United States federal department charged with conservation and the development of natural resources; created in 1849

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

Department of the Interior; DoI; Interior; Interior Department

Hypernyms ("Interior" is a kind of...):

executive department (a federal department in the executive branch of the government of the United States)

Meronyms (parts of "Interior"):

FWS; United States Fish and Wildlife Service; US Fish and Wildlife Service (an agency in the Department of the Interior that conserves and protects fish and wildlife and their habitats; assesses the environmental impact of pesticides and nuclear power site and hydroelectric dams and thermal pollution)

National Park Service (an agency of the Interior Department responsible for the national parks)

• INTERIOR (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Situated within or suitable for inside a building

Context example:

an interior bathroom without windows

Similar:

indoor (within doors)

inside (being or applying to the inside of a building)

Also:

indoor (located, suited for, or taking place within a building)

Attribute:

position; spatial relation (the spatial property of a place where or way in which something is situated)

Antonym:

exterior (situated in or suitable for the outdoors or outside of a building)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Inside the country

Synonyms:

home; interior; internal; national

Context example:

the nation's internal politics

Similar:

domestic (of concern to or concerning the internal affairs of a nation)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Located inward

Synonyms:

inner; interior; internal

Context example:

an internal sense of rightousness

Similar:

inward (relating to or existing in the mind or thoughts)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Inside and toward a center

Context example:

interior regions of the earth

Similar:

internal (happening or arising or located within some limits or especially surface)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Of or coming from the middle of a region or country

Synonyms:

interior; midland; upcountry

Context example:

upcountry districts

Similar:

inland (situated away from an area's coast or border)

 Context examples 

Different materials can change the speed of seismic waves or reflect them, allowing scientists to use these waves to learn about the interior of the Moon and model its formation.

(NASA's InSight Detects First Likely 'Quake' on Mars, NASA)

Mercury’s interior is still active, due to the molten core that powers the planet’s weak magnetic field, relative to Earth’s.

(A Closer Look at Mercury’s Spin and Gravity Reveals the Planet’s Inner Solid Core, NASA)

A recent study analyzed Ceres' surface features to reveal clues about the dwarf planet's interior evolution.

(Dawn Explores Ceres' Interior Evolution, NASA)

Endocytosis is a mechanism for cells to remove ligands, nutrients, plasma membrane (PM) proteins, and lipids from the cell surface, bringing them into the cell interior.

(Endocytosis Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)

The tubules that carry lymph throughout the body that are in the interior of the body or limbs.

(Deep Lymphatic Vessel, NCI Thesaurus)

Interactions between cells, responsible for cell to cell adhesion, can communicate signals into the cellular interior.

(Cell to Cell Adhesion Signaling Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

The free part of the epithelium that faces the interior surface of the lumen of an organ or towards the interstitium.

(Basal Domain of the Epithelium, NCI Thesaurus)

Disulfide linkages are most common in secreted proteins, where proteins are exposed to more oxidizing conditions that are found in the cellular interior.

(Biosynthesis of Cysteine Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

The higher-than-expected temperature provided a unique window into the interior structure of ring particles not usually available to scientists.

(At Saturn, One of These Rings is not like the Others, NASA)

Nobody, who has not been in the interior of a family, can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)