peripheral

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: pe=riph=er=al

CIDE DICTIONARY

peripheral, a. 

•  Of or pertaining to a periphery; constituting a periphery; peripheric.  [1913 Webster]
•  External; away from the center; as, the peripheral portion of the nervous system.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

peripheral, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 of minor importance; marginal.
2 of the periphery; on the fringe.
3 Anat. near the surface of the body, with special reference to the circulation and nervous system.
4 (of equipment) used with a computer etc. but not an integral part of it.
--n. a peripheral device or piece of equipment.

Idiom

peripheral nervous system Anat. the nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord.

Derivative

peripherally adv.

THESAURUS

peripheral

ambient, apparent, beside the point, circling, circumambient, circumferential, circumflex, circumfluent, circumfluous, circumjacent, cortical, delineatory, embracing, encircling, enclosing, encompassing, enfolding, enveloping, environing, epidermic, exomorphic, exterior, external, extrinsic, fringe, in outline, incidental, inessential, irrelevant, minor, neighboring, open, out, outer, outermost, outlined, outlying, outmost, outside, outstanding, outward, outward-facing, perimetric, public, roundabout, secondary, seeming, suburban, superficial, surface, surrounding, tangential, unessential, unimportant, unnecessary, wrapping