peripheral

1 of 2

adjective

pe·riph·er·al pə-ˈri-f(ə-)rəl

Synonyms of peripheral next

: of, relating to, involving, or forming a periphery or surface part

: of, relating to, affecting, or being part of the peripheral nervous system

peripheral nerves

peripheral neuritis

: of, relating to, or being blood in the systemic circulation

peripheral lymphocytes

: of, relating to, or being the outer part of the field of vision

good peripheral vision

: auxiliary, supplementary

peripheral equipment

also : of or relating to computer peripherals

peripherally adverb

peripheral

2 of 2

noun

: a device connected to a computer to provide communication (such as input and output) or auxiliary functions (such as additional storage)

Did you know?

Your peripheral vision is the outer area of your field of vision, where you can still detect movement and shapes. It can be very valuable when, for instance, you're driving into Chicago at rush hour, especially when switching lanes. When people call an issue in a discussion peripheral, they mean that it's not of primary importance, and they're probably suggesting that everyone get back to the main topic. Peripheral is now also a noun: computer peripherals are the added components—printers, webcams, microphones, etc.—that increase a computer's capacities.

Example Sentences

Adjective If we focus too much on peripheral issues, we will lose sight of the goal. peripheral devices such as modems and scanners He saw in his peripheral vision that a car was trying to pass him.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

The women’s paths are not meant to cross — at most, Julia ought to be a peripheral presence, selling bread on the side of the road as Mona drives by. —

Jessica Kiang, Variety, 29 May 2023 One such technique, called peripheral nerve stimulation, involves a procedure that implants electrodes along nerves outside the brain and spinal cord. —

Aria Bendix, NBC News, 16 May 2023 They were often installed in marginal or peripheral spaces, like an art gallery’s back office. —

Washington Post, 11 May 2023 In addition to the slate of performers, the Rock Hall is inducting several other names in peripheral categories. —

Devon Ivie, Vulture, 3 May 2023 In this case, the layoff was a very small number of people who were in a design team and, from my point of view, quite peripheral to our major responsible and ethical and trustworthy A.I. efforts. —

Jessica Mathews, Fortune, 30 Apr. 2023 That’s hardly anything to get excited about, but the core is paired with a bunch of analog and serial peripheral interfaces and, most importantly, a sophisticated radio transceiver. —

IEEE Spectrum, 26 Apr. 2023 Sebban’s multidisciplinary collective, then, is something of an anachronism, straddling our current moment and some whimsical, acid-tinged version of it hovering just beyond the scope of our peripheral vision. —

Gay Gassmann, ELLE Decor, 20 Apr. 2023 For Adele, she was born deaf and essentially has no peripheral vision. —

Josh Bean, al, 10 Apr. 2023

Noun

The latest Thunderbolt Station 4 has 18 ports and can charge your 14-inch MacBook Pro at full speed (96 watts)—even while other peripherals are plugged in. —

Corey Gaskin, Ars Technica, 6 Apr. 2023 Leveraging automation to take care of the peripherals would leave teams to, well, be human. —

Laxman Papineni, Forbes, 3 May 2023 In addition to the vertical design, the mouse comes in both left- and right-handed models—a major plus for lefties who struggle to find peripherals. —

Tom Price, Popular Mechanics, 24 Mar. 2023 Plus, there's room for plenty of peripherals, including external drives, GPUs, or just your phone. —

PCMAG, 23 Feb. 2023 At the rear of the 778, there’s the single Thunderbolt downstream port which can be used to daisy chain other Thunderbolt peripherals. —

Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 4 May 2023 When you’re done, use a dry microfiber cloth to wipe down the outside of your machine and any of its peripherals, such as the mouse and keyboard. —

David Nield, Popular Science, 6 Mar. 2023 These essential peripherals allow players to gain tactile control over their in-game throttle, pitch, yaw, and roll—and there's no shortage of games to use your joystick with. —

Harry Rabinowitz And Matt Ng, Popular Mechanics, 1 Mar. 2023 This library provides basic hooks in the kernel of the operating system for controlling peripherals, such as the general-purpose input/output (GPIO) connections on the PocketBeagle. —

IEEE Spectrum, 24 Nov. 2017 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'peripheral.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.