What does “surface” mean?
- 1
nounthe top or outside layer of something
Clean the surface of the table.
- 2
nounhow something seems before you look more closely
On the surface, everything looked fine.
- 3
verbto come up to the top of water
The whale surfaced near our boat.
Surface at a glance
- Part of speech
- noun & verb
- CEFR level
- B1 (intermediate)
- Pronunciation
- /ˈsɝfɪs/ · SUR-fis
How to use “surface” correctly
The second syllable sounds like “fis”, not “face”.
Common phrases with “surface”
- on the surface
- smooth surface
- the surface of the water
“surface” is on these word lists
Learn these words next
- environment nounB1the natural world of land, air, water, plants and animals
- resource nounB1something useful, such as money, people or materials, that you can use
- coast nounB1the land next to the sea
- energy nounA2the strength and ability to be active without getting tired
- field nounA2an area of land used for growing crops or keeping animals
- gas nounA2a substance like air that is not solid or liquid
- ground nounA2the surface of the earth that you stand on
- heat nounA2the quality of being hot, or hot weather