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areal

areal

1 9.1
Relating to the size, shape, or coverage of a place
  • adjective
  • /ˈɛəriəl/
  • Specialized
: areal
  • The study focused on the areal distribution of plant species across the region.
  • areal extent
  • areal density

Examples

  • The map shows the areal variations in population density throughout the city.

  • Notable gradients of vegetation and soil types track the elevational and areal axes (Zimmerer 1991).

    Academic text (1991)
  • As both populations increased, the problem of future areal expansion arose.

    Academic text (1992)
  • The analysts integrate all data sources for the best estimate of areal coverage of ice cover.

    Blog text (33)
  • The net effect is suburbanization and growing areal spread of the metropolitan area.

    Academic text (2009)
  • One of the key forces driving the rapid advances in data storage has been the ever-increasing areal density.

    Academic text (1995)
  • The areal extent measure, however, leads to a more natural and understandable representation of the drilling and discovery process.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Ambiguity surrounding the selection of the 30% areal objective is a weakness, as is the failure to evaluate error or uncertainty.

    Academic text (2005)
  • Thus, the boundary conditions of undeveloped landforms would be defined by the areal extent of the processes.

    Academic text (1990)
  • The boundary conditions of undeveloped landforms, for example, would be defined by the areal extent of the processes as well as the form.

    Academic text (1993)

Surface Forms

areal positive

Morphology

areal = area (transparent) = area + al

The word is a regular adjective formed from 'area' + '-al', and the meaning 'relating to an area' follows directly from the base noun.

Etymology

The word areal comes from the common word area, which goes back to the old Latin word 'area' meaning 'open space' or 'ground'. So areal means 'relating to an area' or 'about the size or spread of a place', which is why scientists use it to talk about coverage or extent.