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• silesia
  silesia

  noun

  a lightweight, smoothly finished, twilled fabric of acetate, rayon, or cotton, for garment linings.
• Silesia
  Silesia

  noun

  a region in central Europe along both banks of the upper Oder River, mainly in SW Poland and the N Czech Republic: formerly divided between Germany (which had the largest portion), Poland, and Czechoslovakia; by provision of the Potsdam agreement 1945, the greater part of German Silesia came under Polish administration; rich deposits of coal, iron, and other minerals.

silesia

¹ American  

[si-lee-zhuh, -shuh, sahy-] / sɪˈli ʒə, -ʃə, saɪ- /

noun

1. a lightweight, smoothly finished, twilled fabric of acetate, rayon, or cotton, for garment linings.

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Silesia ² American  

[si-lee-zhuh, -shuh, sahy-] / sɪˈli ʒə, -ʃə, saɪ- /

noun

1. a region in central Europe along both banks of the upper Oder River, mainly in SW Poland and the N Czech Republic: formerly divided between Germany (which had the largest portion), Poland, and Czechoslovakia; by provision of the Potsdam agreement 1945, the greater part of German Silesia came under Polish administration; rich deposits of coal, iron, and other minerals.

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Silesia ¹ British  

/ saɪˈliːʃɪə /

noun

1. German name: Schlesien.  Czech name: Slezsko.  Polish name: Śląsk.  a region of central Europe around the upper and middle Oder valley: mostly annexed by Prussia in 1742 but became almost wholly Polish in 1945; rich coal and iron-ore deposits

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silesia ² British  

/ saɪˈliːʃɪə /

noun

1. a twill-weave fabric of cotton or other fibre, used esp for pockets, linings, etc

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Silesian
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of silesia

First recorded in 1665–70; named after Silesia

Example Sentences

Soon after his father’s death in 1740, Frederick demonstrated his aptitude for warfare when he invaded and won the Austrian province of Silesia.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 27, 2026

First published in 1998, this early gem from Nobel Prize winner Tokarczuk takes place in Silesia, a region of Poland close to the Czech Republic and influenced by its Bohemian culture.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 3, 2025

The displaced Poles were in turn resettled in Silesia, a region on the border of Czechoslovakia that had formerly belonged to Germany.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025

Jakob Ingebrigtsen obliterated the 28-year-old 3,000m world record by more than three seconds before Armand Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record at the Diamond League meeting in Silesia.

From BBC • Aug. 25, 2024

At age twenty-six, Virchow wrote passionately that terrible social conditions in an impoverished part of Germany called Upper Silesia were the cause of a malaria and dysentery epidemic.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French