scratch/scrape the surface
surface
verb
uk /ˈsɜː.fɪs/ us /ˈsɝː-/

surfaceverb (TOP)

[ I ]
to rise to the surface of water: 浮出水面
The submarine surfaced a few miles off the coast.潜艇在离海岸几英里的地方浮出了水面。
[ T ]
to cover a road or other area with a hard surface给（道路等）铺上硬面

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Movement on or through water
buoyantly
cast
cast someone adriftidiom
dabble
dip
dip in something
float
hydroplane
outsail
paddle
paddler
raft
row
sail
slingshot
smoothness
swim
tack
wade
wallow

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Covering and adding layers

surfaceverb (KNOWN)

[ I ]
If a feeling or information surfaces, it becomes known: 显露，表露，浮现，公开
Doubts are beginning to surface about whether the right decision has been made.人们开始对这个决定是否正确表示质疑。
A rumour has surfaced that the company is about to go out of business.有传言说这家公司要停业了。

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Revealing secrets & becoming known
anti-secrecy
backchannel
bare
bare your heart/soulidiom
be the talk of somewhereidiom
blow someone's coveridiom
blow/take the lid off somethingidiom
declassify
divulge
hold
huddle
kiss
put the word outidiom
rat
rat on someone/something
reintroduce
revealingly
state's evidence
tip
unravel

surfaceverb (OUT OF BED)

[ I ]informal
to get out of bed: 起床
He never surfaces until at least 11.00 a.m. on a Sunday.他星期天至少要睡到上午11点才起床。

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Sitting and standing
akimbo
astride
bestride
cross-legged
crouch
foot
on all foursidiom
pew
plump (someone/something) down
pose
rampant
reseat
seat
sit
stance
stand around
stand aside
stand round
stand up
strike
surface
adjective
uk /ˈsɜː.fɪs/ us /ˈsɝː-/

surfaceadjective (TOP)

working or operating on the top of the land or sea, rather than under the land or sea, or by air地表上作业的；海面上作业的

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

General location and orientation
about
along
anterior
around
back onto something
fix
forward
left
left-hand
lock on
nearside
noncentral
on-site
position
reorientation
right-hand
right/wrong way roundidiom
round
side-on
spot

surfaceadjective (APPEARANCE)

[ before noun ]
appearing in a particular way but not always showing the truth: 表面的；外表的
his surface appearance of calm confidence他表面上的冷静自信

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Seeming and purporting to be
apparent
appear
appearance
as if/thoughidiom
by the look(s) of thingsidiom
come across
come off
formal
judge
outward
outwardly
outwardness
parallax
pass
pass for sb/sth
seemingly
semblance
superficial
superficiality
superficially

surface | American Dictionary

surface
noun[ C ]
us/ˈsɜr·fəs/
the outer or top part or layer of something:
the earth’s surface
a rough/smooth surface
Try to find a level surface on the ground where you can spread out your sleeping bags.
There was very little wind, and the surface of the water was calm.
mathematics
A surface is also a flat shape or area.
The surface can also be what is obvious about a person or situation rather than truer or more important facts that are hidden or hard to see:
But the fear that lurks just below the surface emerges quickly in talks with villagers.
That may seem absurd on the surface, but in a few years it will seem like wisdom.
surface
verb[ I ]
us/ˈsɜr·fəs/
to appear at the surface of something:
The ducks would dive to the bottom of the lake and surface a minute or two later yards away.
If a feeling or information surfaces, it becomes known:
This story first surfaced about a week ago.
surface
adjective[ not gradable ]
us/ˈsɜr·fəs/
using the surface of the land or sea:
When you land in the airport, look for signs directing you to surface transportation to get a bus to the city.
If you send it overseas by surface mail, it will take forever.

Examples of surface

surface
Assuming strong anchoring at surfaces and a one dimensional deformation, three nondimensional parameters are identified.
The optical properties of the device can be altered by applying a field whose distorting influence on the liquid crystal opposes that of the surfaces.
In 2, we show a nonlinear morphological instability in epitaxial growth on rough surfaces.
Moreover, we shall assume that the surfaces are grey and diffuse.
Throughout this work, it is supposed that in the initial state the two surfaces are not in contact.
We must be careful about condition (12) which specifies that the two upper surfaces have the same convexity.
The claim may be true without the people's good judgment surfacing in their actual choices.
I suspect that such factors as "inter-reflections between surfaces," though certainly demonstrable and interesting, are of secondary importance even in most natural environments.
A partial result is presented for the remaining two surfaces whose fundamental group is the free group on two generators.
The following result [25] shows that on surfaces any diffeomorphism with a homoclinic tangency can be perturbed to create persistent homoclinic tangencies.
Then induces an isomorphism of the first homotopy groups of the underlying surfaces.
During hiatuses in deposition, relatively mature vegetation colonized sediment surfaces.
Our material contains hundreds of priapulid worms found on closely associated bedding surfaces in mudstone.
Note that by (2.3)-(2.5), (2.24)and (2.25)there are no contributions to the integral from the other surfaces.
Then the adjacent bubble surfaces would be circular arcs concave upward.
See all examples of surface
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations withsurface

surface

These are words often used in combination with surface.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

anterior surface
It was directed from the anterior surface of the right or left artery towards the intra-atrial groove in all cases but for one.
articular surface
Recently, new technologies have been developed with the aim of stimulating hyaline cartilage growth over the damaged articular surface (3;18).
cell surface
Identification of cellsurface molecules that interact with pseudorabies virus.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with surface