Outdoors

//aʊtˈdɔː(ɹ)z// adv, noun, verb

adv, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The environment outside of enclosed structures. uncountable

    "He won't leave his house: he's afraid of the outdoors."

  2. 2
    where the air is unconfined wordnet
  3. 3
    The natural environment in the open air, countryside away from cities and buildings. uncountable

    "She loves the outdoors, for its freedom and fresh air."

Verb
  1. 1
    third-person singular simple present indicative of outdoor form-of, indicative, present, singular, third-person
Adverb
  1. 1
    Not inside a house or under covered structure; unprotected; in the open air. not-comparable

    "They went outdoors to light up their cigarettes."

Adverb
  1. 1
    outside a building wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abroadalfrescoalfrescogod's countrygreat outdoorsopen

Example

More examples

"Nowadays children do not play outdoors."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From out + doors (plural of door), probably as a shortening of out of doors. Alternatively, from outdoor (adjective) + -s (adverbial genitive suffix).

Etymology 2

From outdoor (verb) + -s (third-person singular suffix).

Related phrases

great outdoorsoutdoors voiceal fresco

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.