Rocky Mountains

[ rok-ee moun-tnz ]

plural noun

1. the chief mountain system in North America, extending from central New Mexico to northern Alaska. Highest peak, Denali, 20,300 feet (6,187 meters).

Rocky Mountains

plural noun

1. the chief mountain system of W North America, extending from British Columbia to New Mexico: forms the Continental Divide. Highest peak: Mount Elbert, 4399 m (14 431 ft). Mount McKinley (6194 m (20 320 ft)), in the Alaska Range, is not strictly part of the Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

1. Major mountain chain of western North America , running from Alaska to Mexico .

Word History and Origins

Origin of Rocky Mountains¹

First recorded in 1800–05; translation of Canadian French les Montagnes des Roches, from Cree asini˙waciya, plural of asini˙waciy, equivalent to asini˙-, combining form of asiniy “stone, rock” + waciy “mountain,” originally referring to the Canadian Rockies

Example Sentences

Try these cocktails made with TINCUP—a whiskey made for the snowy Rocky Mountains.

From Outside Online

From downtown Denver, you can see the snowcapped Rocky Mountains towering on the horizon to the west.

From Outside Online

The water raging down that river supports 40 million people in seven states and Mexico, but it comes from melted snow accumulating high in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.

From Voice of San Diego

Our anticipation grew as we prepared to climb the mighty Rocky Mountains.

From Outside Online

These agricultural pests migrate in mid-summer to the Rocky Mountains from Kansas and Nebraska to beat the heat.

From The Daily Beast

The Capitol sits in the Rocky Mountains, which serve as a natural barrier to and from its surrounding districts.

From The Daily Beast

They think Americans should go to Yosemite or the Rocky Mountains.

From The Daily Beast

We are all security risks with backgrounds and personal histories resembling a silhouette of the Rocky Mountains.

From The Daily Beast

The gallinaceous birds include the large blue grouse of the coast, replaced in the Rocky Mountains by the dusky grouse.

From Project Gutenberg

To begin with, vast lakes, which once swept westward from the bases of the Rocky Mountains, were emptied into the Pacific.

From Project Gutenberg

Have you explained to him that his grandchildren are coming home to-morrow from the Rocky Mountains?

From Project Gutenberg

Beyond commences the wide sandy desert, stretching westward to the base of the Rocky Mountains.

From Project Gutenberg

This splendid lodge, with all its poles and furniture, was brought from the foot of the Rocky Mountains.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• sierra