Statue of Liberty

American  

noun

1. a large copper statue, on Liberty Island, in New York harbor, depicting a woman holding a burning torch: designed by F. A. Bartholdi and presented to the U.S. by France; unveiled 1886.

2. Also called Statue of Liberty play.  Football. a play in which a back, usually the quarterback, fakes a pass, and a back or end running behind him takes the ball from his upraised hand and runs with it.

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Statue of Liberty British  

noun

1. Official name: Liberty Enlightening the World.  a monumental statue personifying liberty, in New York Harbor, on Liberty Island: a gift from France, erected in 1885

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Statue of Liberty Cultural  

1. A giant statue on an island in the harbor of New York City; it depicts a woman representing liberty, raising a torch in her right hand and holding a tablet in her left. At its base is inscribed a poem by Emma Lazarus that contains the lines “Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Frederic Bartholdi, a Frenchman, was the sculptor. France gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States in the nineteenth century; it was shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in sections and reassembled. The statue was overhauled and strengthened in the 1980s.

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For many immigrants who came to the United States by ship in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Statue of Liberty made a permanent impression as the first landmark they saw as they approached their new home.

Example Sentences

"If the government decides, very quickly, to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty... nothing can be done?" the judge asked.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

He hired a helicopter pilot to get close-ups of the Statue of Liberty.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 26, 2026

One depicts a fractured Statue of Liberty with a broken arm surrounded by scenes of destruction, while another shows the US flag with skulls replacing its stars.

From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026

And, among a list of icons that included the Statue of Liberty and the White House, respondents most often selected the U.S. flag as the one they associated most closely with America.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 19, 2026

Closer, crowned with her own sunrays and dressed like a classical Greek, the Statue of Liberty welcomed them.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides