ambient

/ˈæmbiənt/

/ˈæmbiɛnt/

Ambient is an adjective used to describe an aspect of the environment that completely surrounds you, but in a mellow way, like ambient music played softly throughout a restaurant, or the ambient orange glow during a setting sun.

Ambient describes some pervasive quality of the surrounding environment, like the ambient lighting in a movie theater, or the ambient temperature of a room. Most times when you’re hearing silence, you’re hearing some ambient noises too, like the hum of a refrigerator or the whistle of a breeze. Usually ambient describes a quiet or peaceful quality, but it can be aggressive too, like the ambient drone of war planes flying above that you can hear no matter where you hide.

Definitions of ambient

1. adjective

   completely enveloping
   “the ambient air”

   “ambient sound”

   “the ambient temperature”

   synonyms:

   close

   at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other