area

area ar‧e‧a [ˈeəriə ǁ ˈeriə] noun [countable]

1. a part of a city or country:

• What area of Bristol do you live in?

• the New York metropolitan area (= New York city and the area around it )

asˌsisted ˈarea ECONOMICS

in Britain, an area which receives financial help from the government because it has a high level of unemployment and is in need of economic development:

• Regional programme grants are used to encourage investment in assisted areas.

deˌpressed ˈarea

an area in a large city or a part of a country where houses and other buildings are in a bad condition, the level of unemployment is high, and a lot of people are poor:

• Local councils are obliged to allocate 15% of council housing to people from depressed areas.

deˈvelopment ˌarea ECONOMICS

a relatively poor area that the government tries to make richer by attracting industry, for example by offering money, lower taxes etc to businesses that move there:

• Development Area status is vital to the Wirral in its efforts to bring more investment into the area.

ˈdollar ˌarea ECONOMICS

the countries of the world where the US dollar is used as the main currency or where the value of the currency is directly connected to the US dollar:

• Most of the expenditure was outside the dollar area, and did not give rise to immediate dollar payments.

ˈsales ˌarea MARKETING

a part of a city or country that a particular person or organization sells in and is responsible for; = sales territory AmE:

• For each sales area there is one sales representative.

ˈwilderness ˌarea

an area of public land in the US where no buildings or roads are allowed to be built:

• Most of the forests have long been owned and maintained as wilderness areas by timber and paper companies.

2. the part of a shop or shopping centre where goods are sold:

• You enter its sales area straight off the street.

3. a particular subject, field of activity, or type of business:

• the areas of video games, electronic organizers and cellular phones

ˈgrowth ˌarea COMMERCE

an area of business where sales are growing fast:

• Sales rose 9% in certain key growth areas like electronics, automation and railroad systems.

* * *

area UK US /ˈeəriə/ noun [C]

► a particular part of a place, piece of land, or country: »

This is an area of the city where 48% of the properties are rental properties.

»

Our goal is to grow the total number of jobs in the metropolitan area and to provide the environment for companies to grow and prosper.

»

the reception/kitchen/parking area

»

the packaging/trading area

► a subject or activity, or a part of it: »

Principal growth in the past year has been in the area of new technology in manufacturing and medical settings.

»

He looked continually for ways to expand his startup firm's area of expertise

→ See also ASSISTED AREA(Cf. ↑assisted area), CATCHMENT AREA(Cf. ↑catchment area), DEVELOPMENT AREA(Cf. ↑development area), DOLLAR AREA(Cf. ↑dollar area), THE EURO AREA(Cf. ↑the euro area), GROWTH AREA(Cf. ↑growth area), SALES AREA(Cf. ↑sales area), WILDERNESS AREA(Cf. ↑wilderness area)