ambient

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The Word of the Day for October 27 is:

ambient   \AM-bee-unt\   adjective
     : existing or present on all sides : encompassing

Example sentence:
     "The general, or ambient, light in each gallery is enhanced 
by accent lights focused ... on objects or groups of objects." 
(Grace Glueck, _The New York Times Magazine_, January 24, l982)

Did you know?
     With biologists exploring the effects of ambient light on 
plants, acoustics experts trying to control ambient sound, and 
meteorologists studying ambient pressure, air, or 
temperature, "ambient" may seem like a technical term, but when 
it first saw light of day, that all-encompassing adjective was 
as likely to be used in poetry or philosophy as science. John 
Milton used it in _Paradise Lost_, and Alexander Pope wrote of a 
mountain "whose tow'ring summit ambient clouds conceal'd." Both 
poets and scientists who use "ambient" owe a debt to the Latin 
verb "ambire," meaning "to go around," the grandparent of our 
English word.