Pentland Firth

American  

[pent-luhnd] / ˈpɛnt lənd /

noun

1. a strait between N Scotland and the Orkney Islands, linking the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean: noted for its rough sea conditions. 14 miles (23 km) long.

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Pentland Firth British  

/ ˈpɛntlənd /

noun

1. a channel between the mainland of N Scotland and the Orkney Islands: notorious for rough seas. Length: 32 km (20 miles). Width: up to 13 km (8 miles)

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Example Sentences

Swona is about a mile long and half a mile wide, and lies in the Pentland Firth, a stretch of famously difficult sea between Orkney and the north coast of the Scottish mainland.

From BBC • Sep. 13, 2025

Built in 1904, Bee spent its first three decades transporting sheep, cattle and horses from Stroma over the treacherous two miles of the Pentland Firth.

From BBC • Jan. 28, 2025

I like the leather-clad bikers on the Isle of Man, and the Scottish island of Stroma in the Pentland Firth, which was finally abandoned in 1962.

From The Guardian • Apr. 4, 2013

Research in the Orkneys and the Pentland Firth will help unlock 6 billion pounds of investment, Salmond said in a May 18 speech on his renewable-energy policy.

From BusinessWeek • Jul. 5, 2011

June 3.—The wind continuing favourable after leaving Yarmouth, about nine this morning we passed the rugged and bold projecting rock, termed Johnny Groat's house, and soon afterwards Duncansby Head, and then entered the Pentland Firth.

From Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819-20-21-22, Volume 1 by Franklin, John