peripheral

adjective pe·riph·er·al \ pə-ˈri-f(ə-)rəl \

Updated on: 12 May 2018

Definition of peripheral

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

2 a : 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

—

peripherally

adverb

See peripheral defined for English-language learners

See peripheral defined for kids

Examples of peripheral in a Sentence

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 of peripheral from the Web

But call her in for questioning by the special counsel, who has interviewed dozens of peripheral Trumpworld figures over the course of his investigation?

— bess levin, The Hive, "Rudy Giuliani Fantasizes About Riding to Ivanka Trump’s Rescue," 3 May 2018
Miles, the narrator’s boyfriend, seems surprisingly peripheral to all this.

— molly fischer, The Cut, "Should Sheila Heti Have a Baby?," 1 May 2018
The women are also less likely to talk about the action at hand in the movie and more likely to talk instead about peripheral issues.

— emily matchar, Smithsonian, "This Texas Company Is Fighting Hollywood’s Gender Inequality With Hard Data From Movie Scripts," 23 Mar. 2018
His central vision worsened faster than his peripheral vision.

— richard sandomir, New York Times, "Rob Matthews, 56, Blind Paralympian Who Won 8 Gold Medals, Dies," 19 Apr. 2018
The strongest hit overall came from a gene called BDKRB2, which may increase how much peripheral blood vessels constrict.

— michael nedelman, CNN, "Diving deep on one breath could be in a 'sea nomad's' DNA," 19 Apr. 2018
As noted this week by the Woodland Daily Democrat, Talkington was born with no central vision and depends on her peripheral sight.

— michael mcgough, sacbee, "Woodland-native actress may make history with upcoming NCIS guest appearance | The Sacramento Bee," 14 Apr. 2018
To an outsider, changes such as more decentralisation and the sale of peripheral businesses hardly seemed controversial.

— The Economist, "The departure of the VW boss heralds a big shake-up," 12 Apr. 2018
And a few more peripheral questions: How does Facebook use your data for ad targeting?

— recode staff, Recode, "Recode Daily: Here’s what happened on Day 2 of ‘Mark Week’ on Capitol Hill," 12 Apr. 2018

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.

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.

First Known Use of peripheral

1808

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

peripheral Synonyms

peripheral

noun

Definition of peripheral

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

See peripheral defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of peripheral from the Web

Windows 10 will now produce a notification to quickly connect to a Bluetooth peripheral and pair it.

— tom warren, The Verge, "Windows 10 April 2018 Update: the 10 best new features," 30 Apr. 2018
With Robic's motions invading his peripheral, the Wildcats' 6-foot-6 freshman point guard rolled through a response, raised his hand toward the ceiling into a subtle point of acknowledgment and never broke eye contact with a reporter.

— fletcher page, The Courier-Journal, "Inside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's development into Kentucky basketball's most important player," 14 Mar. 2018
Microsoft sells its own line of Surface brand notebooks and tablets, along with PCs and peripherals from other hardware manufacturers.

— dwight silverman, Houston Chronicle, "Microsoft Store moving one door away from Apple Store in the Galleria," 14 Mar. 2018
Together, the spyware modules have the ability to collect screenshots, read information from open windows, read the contents of the computer's hard drive and any peripherals, monitor the local network, and log keystrokes and passwords.

— andy greenberg, WIRED, "Router-Hacking 'Slingshot' Spy Operation Compromised More Than 100 Targets," 9 Mar. 2018
The good news is that his peripherals from previous seasons were largely intact.

— michael beller, SI.com, "First Base Primer: Why the Position Should be a Priority in Fantasy Leagues," 13 Feb. 2018
Connecting peripherals is a pain in the ass for one reason: Besides the Surface, few tablets have USB ports.

— rachel z. arndt, Popular Mechanics, "How to Get By Using a Tablet As Your Main Computer," 5 Aug. 2015
The fact that there is this peripheral buzz and attention on it is certainly a nice bonus and another bonus: social relevance.

— jessica kantor, Glamour, "The Assassination of Gianni Versace's Darren Criss: 'All Great Stories Are Great Stories Regardless of Color, Age, Gender, Sexuality'," 24 Jan. 2018
Other winners on Tuesday morning included Carrefour (crrfy, +0.86%), boosted by a plan to increase sales, and computer peripherals and speaker firm Logitech (logi, +1.45%), which reported good sales and raised its guidance.

— david meyer, Fortune, "EasyJet Shares Pop as Airline Profits From Other Carriers' Woes," 14 Apr. 2017

First Known Use of peripheral

1966

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

Other Computer-Related Terms

adware, flash, kludge, phishing, recursive, router

PERIPHERAL Defined for English Language Learners

peripheral

adjective

Definition of peripheral for English Language Learners

: not relating to the main or most important part
computers : connected to a computer but not an essential part of it
: of or relating to the area that is to the side of the area you are looking at

peripheral

noun

Definition of peripheral for English Language Learners

computers : a piece of equipment (such as a printer, speaker, etc.) that is connected to a computer but is not an essential part of it

Medical Dictionary

peripheral

adjective pe·riph·er·al \ pə-ˈrif-(ə-)rəl \

medical Definition of peripheral

1 : of, relating to, involving, forming, or located near a periphery or surface part (as of the body)

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

peripheral nerves

3 : of, relating to, or being the outer part of the visual field

good peripheral vision

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

peripheral lymphocytes

peripheral blood

—

peripherally

play \-ē\ adverb

Learn More about peripheral

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for peripheral Spanish Central: Translation of peripheral Nglish: Translation of peripheral for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of peripheral for Arabic speakers

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peripheral

Definition of peripheral

peripherally

Examples of peripheral in a Sentence

Recent Examples of peripheral from the Web

Did You Know?

First Known Use of peripheral

peripheral Synonyms

Synonyms

Antonyms

Near Antonyms

Related Words

peripheral

Definition of peripheral

Recent Examples of peripheral from the Web

First Known Use of peripheral

Other Computer-Related Terms

PERIPHERAL Defined for English Language Learners

peripheral

Definition of peripheral for English Language Learners

peripheral

Definition of peripheral for English Language Learners

Medical Dictionary

peripheral

medical Definition of peripheral

peripherally

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