peripheral

adjective

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pe·riph·er·al | \ pə-ˈri-f(ə-)rəl

Definition of peripheral

(Entry 1 of 2)

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

2a : of, relating to, affecting, or being part of the peripheral nervous system peripheral nerves peripheral neuritis

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

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

4 : auxiliary, supplementary peripheral equipment also : of or relating to computer peripherals

peripheral

noun

Definition of peripheral (Entry 2 of 2)

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

Other Words from peripheral Synonyms & Antonyms Did You Know? More Example Sentences Learn More about peripheral

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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.

Examples of peripheral in a Sentence

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 Most historians highlight a weak state, difficult geography with industrialisation mainly in peripheral regions, an army that refused to accept the loss of empire, and missed political opportunities. — The Economist, "Too many setbacks A historian sets out to explain Spain’s tumultuous past," 20 June 2020 The peripheral areas are more affordable both from a rental and purchase perspective. — Anuj Puri, Quartz India, "The work-from-home culture could change how Indians buy homes," 16 June 2020 The relatively fast recovery of olfactory function in most patients also lends support to a peripheral cause that does not kill the olfactory sensory neurons. — Leslie Kay, Scientific American, "Why COVID-19 Makes People Lose Their Sense of Smell," 13 June 2020 My peripheral vision had started to just go away, and that was the first sign that, maybe, something was wrong. — Nathan Brown, Indianapolis Star, "With Texas at center-stage, a look at the track's dark days with CART: 'I was so relieved I didn't have to drive'," 5 June 2020 The latest product of that particular effort is the introduction of the Magic Keyboard peripheral from the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models. — Samuel Axon, Ars Technica, "Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro mini-review: A vast improvement," 30 May 2020 That latter figure accounts for festival attendees’ and vendors’ peripheral spending, including hotels, travel and food, as well as festival production expenses, such as staging and sound. — Matt Wake | Mwake@al.com, al, "2020 Panoply Arts Festival has been cancelled," 24 Mar. 2020 Women are peripheral to his vision of combat and to the book. — Elizabeth D. Samet, Washington Post, "From Jim Mattis, leadership lessons and a love letter to Marine ‘grunts’," 24 Oct. 2019 Built in 1963, when cinema owners worried that TV sets would make theaters irrelevant, the 800-seat Cinerama Dome has an 86-foot-long, deeply curved screen — enough to fill your peripheral vision. — Brooks Barnes, New York Times, "Hollywood Beacons in the Night," 23 Apr. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun The main downside to this is price: $299 is frankly a bonkers price for a keyboard peripheral. — Samuel Axon, Ars Technica, "Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro mini-review: A vast improvement," 30 May 2020 Further Reading iPadOS review: The iPad is dead, long live the iPad The latest product of that particular effort is the introduction of the Magic Keyboard peripheral from the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models. — Samuel Axon, Ars Technica, "Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro mini-review: A vast improvement," 30 May 2020 The vector is a familiar one: the Thunderbolt ultrafast interface connects graphics cards, storage systems, and other peripherals to millions of computers. — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, "Thunderspy: What it is, why it’s not scary, and what to do about it," 12 May 2020 In fact, many Thunderbolt peripherals made before 2019 are incompatible with Kernel DMA Protection. — Andy Greenberg, Wired, "Thunderbolt Flaws Expose Millions of PCs to Hands-On Hacking," 10 May 2020 Tying them to displays and other peripherals will be the Surface Dock 3 and the Microsoft USB-C Travel Hub. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, "Microsoft launches Surface Book 3 and Surface Go 2, a new Surface Dock and Surface Headphones 2," 6 May 2020 Like the original console, the TG-16M ships with support for five-player modes, though these require peripherals from Hori (who co-developed this system). — Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, "TurboGrafx-16 Mini review: Mostly best-in-class retro gaming, sometimes WTF," 15 Apr. 2020 Larger services like Microsoft's Azure Sphere are also exploring ways to extend more comprehensive encryption to peripherals and IoT devices. — Lily Hay Newman, Wired, "An Open Source Bid to Encrypt the Internet of Things," 20 Jan. 2020 Other consumer electronics, including laptop and tablet computers, monitors and other peripherals, video game consoles, and smartphones were slated to face a new 25-percent tariff rate in December. — Kate Cox, Ars Technica, "Trump, China sign new trade deal staving off impending tech tariffs," 16 Jan. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'peripheral.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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