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• Oklahoma
  Oklahoma

  noun

  a state in the south central United States. 69,919 square miles (181,090 square kilometers). Oklahoma City. OK (for use with zip code), Okla.
• Oklahoma!
  Oklahoma!

  A musical comedy by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It began a new era of sophistication in musical comedy and was the first of several very successful Rodgers and Hammerstein shows. “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” “Oklahoma,” and “People Will Say We're in Love” are songs from Oklahoma!

Oklahoma

American  

[oh-kluh-hoh-muh] / ˌoʊ kləˈhoʊ mə /

noun

1. a state in the south central United States. 69,919 square miles (181,090 square kilometers). Oklahoma City. OK (for use with zip code), Okla.

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Oklahoma British  

/ ˌəʊkləˈhəʊmə /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Okla..   OK.  a state in the S central US: consists of plains in the west, rising to mountains in the southwest and east; important for oil. Capital: Oklahoma City. Pop: 3 511 532 (2003 est). Area: 181 185 sq km (69 956 sq miles)

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Oklahoma! ¹ Cultural  

1. A musical comedy by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It began a new era of sophistication in musical comedy and was the first of several very successful Rodgers and Hammerstein shows. “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” “Oklahoma,” and “People Will Say We're in Love” are songs from Oklahoma!

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Oklahoma ² Cultural  

1. State in the southwestern United States, bordered by Colorado and Kansas to the north, Missouri and Arkansas to the east, Texas to the south, and New Mexico to the west. Its capital and largest city is Oklahoma City.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Oklahoman
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Oklahoma

First recorded in 1895–1900; from Choctaw Oklahommaʔ “Indian (i.e., North American Indian)”, equivalent to oklah “people, nation” + ommaʔ “red,” coined by the Choctaw scholar and Presbyterian minister Allen Wright (1826–85), later principal chief of the Choctaw Nation (1866–70), and originally applied to the Indian Territory; see Five Civilized Nations ( def. ), Indian Territory ( def. )

Example Sentences

Born Jan. 29, 1967, the Lawton, Okla., native became a star playing at Oklahoma from 1985-1989, leading the Sooners to the national championship game in 1988 and back into the Sweet 16 the following year.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026

More than half of them were Black men; nearly all of them were put to death in Florida, Oklahoma, or Texas.

From Slate • Jun. 8, 2026

Martin, who is part of the Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership, is president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Assn., and serves as manager of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Preserve Route 66 initiative.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026

He’d put up outrageous stat lines and even more absurd highlights while knocking off the defending-champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the conference finals.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 6, 2026

In Oklahoma rain can sound like the gallop of horses come to your rescue, or the laughter of darkness.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri