Milieu

 WORD OF THE DAY

milieu / noun / meel-YOO

Definition
1: the physical or social setting in which something occurs or develops
2: environment

Examples
"Before the pandemic, a lot of people were focused on how to make a home office sustainable … and that includes not only how the milieu is conducive to productivity, but also how it helps you establish a good work-life balance….."
— Ashlee Piper, quoted in Entrepreneur, 10 Feb. 2022

Theirs was a bohemian milieu in which people often played romantic musical chairs.
— Edmund White, New York Review of Books, 12 Feb. 2009

Did You Know?
Milieu comes from Old French mi (meaning "middle") and lieu ("place").
The word refers to an environment or setting.
In English, lieu also is used to mean "place" and most often occurs in the phrase "in lieu of," as in "Cash is preferred but in lieu of cash a credit card is acceptable."