Definition of surface:

• appear or become visible; make a showing; " She turned up at the funeral"; " I hope the list key is going to surface again"
• come to the surface
• To put a surface on.
• a device that provides reactive force when in motion relative to the surrounding air; can lift or control a plane in flight
• the outermost level of the land or sea; " earthquakes originate far below the surface"; " three quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by water"
• information that has become public; " all the reports were out in the open"; " the facts had been brought to the surface"
• the outer boundary of an artifact or a material layer constituting or resembling such a boundary; " there is a special cleaner for these surfaces"; " the cloth had a pattern of red dots on a white surface"
• a superficial aspect as opposed to the real nature of something; " it was not what it appeared to be on the surface"
• the extended two- dimensional outer boundary of a three- dimensional object; " they skimmed over the surface of the water"; " a brush small enough to clean every dental surface"; " the sun has no distinct surface"
• The outside part of anything that has length, breadth, and thickness; the upper face of a solid; outside; hence, outward appearance; as, all looks well, on the surface.
• The exterior part of anything.
• The outside of anything.
• Geom. That which has length and breadth, but not thickness.
• The exterior part of anything that has length and breadth; a superficies; a magnitude that has length and breadth without thickness.
• The upper face or side of a thing; the outside; the upper stratum of the soil; that which has length and breadth only.
• involving a surface only; " her beauty is only skin- deep"; " superficial bruising"; " a surface wound"
• on the surface; " surface materials of the moon"
• A small plane or surface, usually capable of adjustment but not of manipulation, for preserving lateral balance in an aeroplane or flying machine.
• The exterior part of anything that has length and breadth; one of the limits that bound a solid, esp. the upper face; superficies; the outside; as, the surface of the earth; the surface of a diamond; the surface of the body.
• Hence, outward or external appearance.
• That part of the side which is terminated by the flank prolonged, and the angle of the nearest bastion.
• To give a surface to; especially, to cause to have a smooth or plain surface; to make smooth or plain.
• To work over the surface or soil of, as ground, in hunting for gold.
• Outside; on the surface merely.

Usage examples for surface

1. He knew only too well that, as yet, he had not begun to get beneath the surface.  Flamsted quarries by Mary E. Waller

2. But this was surface education.  Daybreak: A Romance of an Old World by James Cowan

3. When taken out, the surface must be rubbed dry.  The American Reformed Cattle Doctor by George Dadd

4. We see a part of the surface of the earth and of the water, but no one has ever seen the surface of the mighty ocean in which we live.  Uncle Robert's Geography (Uncle Robert's Visit, V.3) by Francis W. Parker and Nellie Lathrop Helm