user interface

noun

plural user interfaces

: software that is designed to allow a computer user to interact with the operating system of a machine or system (such as by selecting presented options or entering text commands)

Likewise, the user interface is remarkably unintuitive, requiring a whirlwind of relentless mouse clicking to move, talk, touch, look, or manipulate onscreen objects.

—Scott A. May

… a new user interface he vows will change the way people use computers.

—InfoWorld

especially : graphical user interface

—abbreviation UI

Examples of user interface in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Software dependencies are essential component parts of smaller data services, software libraries devoted to establishing database connections, a software framework that controls a user interface or a smaller module that forms a wider external third-party application in its entirety. —Adrian Bridgwater, Forbes.com, 7 July 2025

Crist emphasized the company’s investment in both cutting-edge tech and easy to use user interfaces. —Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 7 July 2025

Even decades later, their typing, mouse usage, or navigation of user interfaces often reveals their late start. —Marco Argenti, Fortune, 3 July 2025

By 1981, when Robinson joined, Apple had grown to 2,500 employees and was on the cusp of launching the Lisa and Macintosh, which would revolutionize user interfaces. —Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1967, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for user interface

• asparaginase
• dehydrogenase
• lipoxygenase
• abase
• airspace
• apace
• backspace
• biface
• birthplace
• blackface
• boldface
• bookcase

Kids Definition

user interface

noun

: software that is designed to allow a computer user to interact with the operating system of a machine or system

especially : graphical user interface