atmosphere
n. C / Un. the feeling or mood that you get from a place or a situation. It can also mean the layer of gases that surrounds a planet.
n. the pervading tone or mood of a place, situation, or creative work; also, the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet.
The restaurant has a very romantic atmosphere.
The director uses dark lighting and slow music to create a tense atmosphere throughout the opening scene of the film.
While the scientific study of the planetary atmosphere is crucial for climate models, novelists often focus on the social atmosphere of a setting to reveal character motivations.
Borrowed from French atmosphère, from New Latin atmosphaera, from Ancient Greek ἀτμός (atmós, “steam”) + σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “sphere”); corresponding to atmo- + -sphere.
Countable when referring to a specific mood or a planetary layer; uncountable when referring to the general air in a room.