An electric field is the region around a charged object within which another charged object experiences an attractive or repulsive force.
The direction of an electric field
We define the direction of an electric field at a point as the direction in which a small positive charge will move when placed at that point in the field.
This is why we draw the electric field lines of positively charged objects with arrows leaving (the positive point charge is pushed outwards):
We draw the electric field around a negatively charged object with arrows going towards the object (the positive point charge is pulled inwards):
