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Glite Dictionary
geofence

geofence

1 8.1
A marked area on a map that sends an alert when a device enters or leaves it
  • noun
  • /ˈdʒiːoʊˌfɛns/
  • Specialized
: geocerca
  • The security system will alert you if someone breaches the geofence you set around your property.

Examples

  • Businesses often use a geofence to send promotions to customers when they are nearby.

  • You wouldn't catch that guy, and they had to go to nonprofits, so they had to meet those two criteria and then go to one of the geofence drop boxes.

    2000 Mules (2022)

  • The app sends a notification when you enter the designated geofence around your home.

Surface Forms

geofence singular
geofences plural

Morphology

geofence = fence (semi-transparent) = geo + fence

The word is built transparently from 'geo' and 'fence', but the modern technological sense is a specialized extension rather than a fully literal boundary fence.

Etymology

The word geofence combines geo-, the same beginning you see in geography, meaning 'earth', and fence meaning 'barrier'. So a geofence is like an invisible fence around a place that makes an app send an alert when a device goes in or out.