# environmental

Pronunciation: US say "en-vy-urn-MEN-tuhl" /ənˌvaɪ.ɚnˈmɛn.təl/; UK say "in-vy-ruhn-MEN-tuhl" /ɪnˌvaɪ.ɹə(n)ˈmɛn.təl/

## Adjective

1. Relating to the environment: the natural surroundings and conditions in which people, animals, and plants live.
   - Simple: Having to do with nature and the world around living things.
   - _The company faced fines for breaking environmental regulations._
   - _Climate change is one of the biggest environmental challenges we face._
2. Causing little or no harm to the natural world.
   - Simple: Causing little or no harm to nature.
   - _Buying secondhand clothes is often the most environmental option, since nothing new has to be made._
   - _Shoppers increasingly prefer environmental alternatives to plastic bags._
3. Concerning the outside influences on a person's development, such as upbringing and culture, rather than those passed down through heredity.
   - Simple: Having to do with how a person is raised and the world around them, not with their genes.
   - _Studies of twins raised apart help researchers separate genetic from environmental influences on intelligence._
   - _Some psychologists argue that most differences in personality are environmental rather than inherited._

## Other meanings

- (noun) In computing, any physical condition of the place where hardware runs, such as the temperature of the room or the number of equipment racks.

## Origin

Formed from "environment" combined with the suffix "-al."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/environmental (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).