Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Interior?

\In*te"ri*or\, a. [L., compar. fr. inter between: cf. F. int['e]rieur. See {Inter-}, and cf. {Intimate}.] 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. {Interior angle} (Geom.), an angle formed between two sides, within any rectilinear figure, as a polygon, or between two parallel lines by these lines and another intersecting them; -- called also {internal angle}. {Interior planets} (Astron.), those planets within the orbit of the earth. {Interior screw}, a screw cut on an interior surface, as in a nut; a female screw. Syn: Internal; inside; inner; inland; inward.
\In*te"ri*or\, n. 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. {Department of the Interior}, that department of the government of the United States which has charge of pensions, patents, public lands and surveys, the Indians, education, etc.; that department of the government of a country which is specially charged with the internal affairs of that country; the home department. {Secretary of the Interior}, the cabinet officer who, in the United States, is at the head of the Department of the Interior.