interior Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the region that is inside of something
    inside.
  2. noun the inner or enclosed surface of something
    inside.
  3. noun the United States federal department charged with conservation and the development of natural resources; created in 1849
    Department of the Interior; Interior Department; DoI.
  4. adjective situated within or suitable for inside a building
    • an interior scene
    • interior decoration
    • an interior bathroom without windows
  5. adjective satellite inside the country
    home; national; internal.
    • the British Home Office has broader responsibilities than the United States Department of the Interior
    • the nation's internal politics
  6. adjective satellite located inward
    internal; inner.
    • Beethoven's manuscript looks like a bloody record of a tremendous inner battle"- Leonard Bernstein
    • she thinks she has no soul, no interior life, but the truth is that she has no access to it"- David Denby
    • an internal sense of rightousness"- A.R.Gurney,Jr.
  7. adjective satellite inside and toward a center
    • interior regions of the earth
  8. adjective satellite of or coming from the middle of a region or country
    upcountry; midland.
    • upcountry districts

WordNet

In*te"ri*or adjective
Etymology
L., compar. fr. inter between: cf. F. intérieur. See Inter-, and cf. Intimate.
Definitions
  1. Being within any limits, inclosure, or substance; inside; internal; inner; -- opposed to exterior, or superficial; as, the interior apartments of a house; the interior surface of a hollow ball.
  2. Remote from the limits, frontier, or shore; inland; as, the interior parts of a region or country. Syn. -- Internal; inside; inner; inland; inward.
In*te"ri*or noun
Definitions
  1. That which is within; the internal or inner part of a thing; the inside.
  2. The inland part of a country, state, or kingdom.

Webster 1913