Extramural is an adjective that means outside the walls or boundaries of a town, college or institution.

Our word of the day combines the Latin word muros (MOO ros) which means ‘walls,’ with the prefix ‘extra’ (EKS trah) which means ‘outside.’ Anything outside a given location or region is considered extramural. Here’s an example:

The office manager has often encouraged extramural hobbies as long as they don’t put us at risk. The limits of these policies were tested when I became an avid bullfighter and spent several weeks in the hospital. It was at the moment when it was decided that interests outside of the office should be restricted to things that don’t involve getting gored in the ribcage.