district

[dis-trikt]

noun

1. a division of territory, as of a country, state, or county, marked off for administrative, electoral, or other purposes.

2. a region or locality.

   the theater district; the Lake District.

3. British.,  a subdivision of a county or a town.

4. the District, the District of Columbia; Washington, D.C.

verb (used with object)

1. to divide into districts.

district

/ ˈdɪstrɪkt /

noun

1. 1. an area of land marked off for administrative or other purposes

   2. ( as modifier )

      district nurse

2. a locality separated by geographical attributes; region

3. any subdivision of any territory, region, etc

4. (in England from 1974 and in Wales 1974–96) any of the subdivisions of the nonmetropolitan counties that elects a council responsible for local planning, housing, rates, etc See also metropolitan district

5. (in Scotland until 1975) a landward division of a county

6. (in Scotland 1975–96) any of the subdivisions of the regions that elected a council responsible for environmental health services, housing, etc

7. any of the 26 areas into which Northern Ireland has been divided since 1973. Elected district councils are responsible for environmental health services, etc

verb

1. (tr) to divide into districts

Other Word Forms

• interdistrict adjective
• outdistrict noun
• predistrict noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of district¹

First recorded in 1605–15; from French, from Medieval Latin distrīctus “exercise of justice, restraining of offenders,” derivative of Latin distringere “to stretch out; detain, occupy,” equivalent to di- suffix of separation + strig- (base of stringere “to bind, tie”) + -tus suffix of verbal action; distrain, di- ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of district¹

C17: from Medieval Latin districtus area of jurisdiction, from Latin distringere to stretch out; see _distrain

Example Sentences

It comes down to a basic fact: this is a Democratic-led measure to reconfigure California’s congressional districts to help their party win control of the U.S.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

That decision applied to an old historic district but could set a precedent for the entire island.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In Mustang district in west Nepal, Nepal Army rescuers took three days trekking and digging through snow on Friday to reach three British and 15 local trekkers.

Read more on Barron's

In an earlier post, Haji Zaid wrote that they had received "reports of minor injuries and superficial damages from all districts of the province".

Read more on BBC

The attack came a day after the Israeli military said it had killed "a Hezbollah maintenance officer" working to re-establish the group's infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon in a strike on the same district.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• commune 
• community 
• department 
• locality 
• neighborhood 
• parish 
• precinct 
• region 
• section 
• sector 
• territory