{
  "id": "surroundings.environment",
  "term": "surroundings",
  "sense": "environment",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 5,
  "arena": "surroundings",
  "domain": "environment.surroundings",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "the other matter that is in space around an object",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "matter.substance",
      "space.extent",
      "object.entity"
    ],
    "interaction": "Matter exists in space, forming the environment around an object by being distinct from it yet adjacent.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "relative location",
      "contextual adjacency",
      "environmental distinction"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The International Space Station orbits Earth surrounded by vacuum, debris, and solar radiation.",
      "domain": "space"
    },
    {
      "text": "Central Park in New York City is bordered by skyscrapers, roads, and millions of pedestrians.",
      "domain": "urban"
    },
    {
      "text": "A coral reef thrives amidst seawater, fish schools, and shifting sandbanks in the Great Barrier Reef.",
      "domain": "ecology"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "environment.surroundings",
      "note": "is-a",
      "type": "is-a"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [
    "environmental.surroundings"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "surroundings"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "components",
      "note": "Added 'object.entity' to components since the definition refers to 'an object' as a reference point, making it constitutive. The definition remains accurate and minimal, so no rewrite was needed."
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-surroundings.environment"
}