Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - surface

(surfaces, surfacing, surfaced) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. The surface of something is the flat top part of it or the outside of it. Ozone forms a protective layer between 12 and 30 miles above the Earth’s surface. ...tiny little waves on the surface of the water... Its total surface area was seven thousand square feet. N-COUNT: usu with supp 2. A work surface is a flat area, for example the top of a table, desk, or kitchen cupboard, on which you can work. It can simply be left on the work surface... N-COUNT: usu with supp 3. When you refer to the surface of a situation, you are talking about what can be seen easily rather than what is hidden or not immediately obvious. Back in Britain, things appear, on the surface, simpler... Social unrest, never far below the surface in Brazil, has erupted over the last few days... N-SING: usu the N 4. Surface is used to describe the parts of the armed forces which travel by ship or by land rather than underwater or in the air. In contrast with its surface fleet, Britain’s submarine force was relatively small. ADJ: ADJ n 5. If someone or something under water surfaces, they come up to the surface of the water. He surfaced, gasping for air. VERB: V 6. When something such as a piece of news, a feeling, or a problem surfaces, it becomes known or becomes obvious. The paper says the evidence, when it surfaces, is certain to cause uproar... = emerge VERB: V 7. When someone surfaces, they appear after not being seen for some time, for example because they have been asleep. (INFORMAL) What time do you surface? VERB: V