Pennsylvania

American  

[pen-suhl-veyn-yuh, -vey-nee-uh] / ˌpɛn səlˈveɪn yə, -ˈveɪ ni ə /

noun

1. a state in the eastern United States. 45,333 sq. mi. (117,410 sq. km). Harrisburg. PA (for use with zip code), Pa., Penn., Penna.

---

Pennsylvania British  

/ ˌpɛnsɪlˈveɪnɪə /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Pa.   Penn.   Penna.   PA.  a state of the northeastern US: almost wholly in the Appalachians, with the Allegheny Plateau to the west and a plain in the southeast; the second most important US state for manufacturing. Capital: Harrisburg. Pop: 12 365 455 (2003 est). Area: 116 462 sq km (44 956 sq miles)

---

Pennsylvania Cultural  

1. State in the northeastern United States bordered by Lake Erie and New York to the north; New Jersey to the east; Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia to the south; and Ohio to the west. Its capital is Harrisburg, and its largest city is Philadelphia.

---

Discover More

Named after the father of William Penn, a devout Quaker, who was granted proprietary rights by the king of England to almost the whole of what is now Pennsylvania in the late seventeenth century.

One of the thirteen colonies.

Example Sentences

Support collapsed after a partial core meltdown in 1979 at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania led to several days of panic, heightening awareness of potential safety risks.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026

Oregon and Pennsylvania also took the charity to court over the misleading jingle in 2009, resulting in a $130,000 fine and a requirement to disclose its affiliations in all advertisements.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026

The New York rate is more than three times the Pennsylvania rate.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026

Dubbed Don Colossus, the statue depicts the president on that fateful afternoon in Butler, Pennsylvania, moments after surviving what would turn out to be the first of many attempts on his life.

From Slate • Jun. 2, 2026

In 1780, Pennsylvania had made slavery illegal, the first state to do so.

From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis