- not relating to the most important part of something; incidental, minor, or superficial
- of, relating to, or of the nature of a periphery
- of, relating to, or situated near the surface of the body: a peripheral nerveAlso: peripheric, peripherical
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
pe•riph•er•al /pəˈrɪfərəl/USA pronunciation
adj.
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- of or relating to the periphery:the peripheral boundaries.
- concerned with less central aspects of a problem or situation:questions peripheral to the main issue.
- Computing of or relating to a computer peripheral:[before a noun]buying peripheral devices.
n. [countable]
- Computinga device, as a keyboard, printer, or tape drive, that is outside a computer but connected to it.
pe•riph•er•al
(pə rif′ər əl),USA pronunciation adj.
n.
pe•riph′er•al•ly, adv.
- pertaining to, situated in, or constituting the periphery:peripheral resistance on the outskirts of the battle area.
- concerned with relatively minor, irrelevant, or superficial aspects of the subject in question.
- Anatomynear the surface or outside of;
external. - Computingof or pertaining to a peripheral.
n.
- Computinga device or unit that operates separately from the CPU but is connected to it, as a magnetic disk or tape unit or a printer.
- Greek peripher(é̄s) (see periphery) + -al1
- 1800–10; 1965–70 for def. 4;
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
peripheral /pəˈrɪfərəl/ adj
'peripheral' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
channel
- end organ
- Ewing's sarcoma
- hardware
- hot-swap
- input
- neuritis
- online
- optical character reader
- optical scanner
- parity check
- peripheral device
- peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumour
- rim
- sidelines
- tunnel vision
- USB port
- belt
- beriberi
- bradykinin
- client
- configure
- controller
- download
- driver
- fringe
- handshake
- housekeeping
- isoxsuprine
- leprosy
- minoxidil
- nervous system
- perimeter
- peripheralism
- peripheral nervous system
- peripheral vision
- peripheric
- phenoxybenzamine
- plugboard
- plug-compatible
- port
- retinitis pigmentosa
- server
- Schwann cell
- sensillum