inland
Americanadjective
-
pertaining to or situated in the interior part of a country or region.
inland cities.
-
British. domestic or internal.
inland revenue.
adverb
noun
adjective
-
of, concerning, or located in the interior of a country or region away from a sea or border
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operating within a country or region; domestic; not foreign
noun
adverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inland
Explanation
Inland means far away from the ocean, or in the very middle of a country. If you were born and grew up in Kansas, you're familiar with inland living. The opposite of inland is coastal. When you travel to the rocky coast of Maine or the soft sandy beaches of Florida, you're far from being inland — you return to your inland home town when you fly back to Gary, Indiana. Inland comes from the Old English inn lond, "land around the mansion of an estate," and it began to mean "land far from the coast" in the 16th century.
Vocabulary lists containing inland
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Longtime radio personalities Evelyn Erives, Nick Nack and Garrison King were all cut from the Inland Empire station last week as part of iHeartMedia’s latest round of national layoffs.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 29, 2026
Torres, of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, said he was disappointed that Riverside officials did not make the report public upon receiving it last summer.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 16, 2026
Duane and Kelly Roberts, residents of Laguna Beach, also established the hotel’s annual Festival of Lights, an Inland Empire holiday tradition.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026
Victor Glover, who grew up in the Inland Empire, is now the only pilot to have flown NASA’s Orion capsule.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2026
The fishermen say the Heike samurai wander the bottoms of the Inland Sea still—in the form of crabs.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.