Ellis Island


noun
  1. an island in upper New York Bay: a former U.S. immigrant examination station.

Words Nearby Ellis Island

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Ellis Island in a sentence

  • In Encountering Ellis Island, historian Ronald Bayor probes the opportunities and the bigotry faced by immigrants to the U.S.

  • Bayor claims Ellis Island represented much more than just a processing station for immigrants.

  • They had been turned back from the emigrant station on Ellis Island, and were now sadly returning to Liverpool.

    Marriage la mode | Mrs. Humphry Ward
  • The climax to all of our troubles was the making out of our declaration and being held in quarantine at Ellis Island.

    Ways of War and Peace | Delia Austrian
  • It is this statue which immigrants, on their way to Ellis Island, are wont to apostrophise.

    American Sketches | Charles Whibley
  • If we are sophisticated, we may not be good enough for Ellis Island.

  • The career of this young man up to the time of his landing at Ellis Island is significant, to say the least.

    The Barrel Mystery | William J. (William James) Flynn

Cultural definitions for Ellis Island (1 of 2)

Ellis Island

An island in the harbor of New York City. The chief immigration station of the United States was on Ellis Island from 1892 to 1943, a time when millions of people, especially from Europe, came to the United States.

Notes for Ellis Island

Ellis Island lies near the Statue of Liberty, which made an impressive sight for people approaching the United States for the first time.

Notes for Ellis Island

1990 marked the opening of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.
Ellis Island

Island in the harbor of New York City, southwest of Manhattan.

Notes for Ellis Island

From 1892 to 1954, it served as the prime immigration station of the country. Some twelve million immigrants passed through it during this time.

Notes for Ellis Island

Part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.