Missouri

American  

[mi-zoor-ee, -zoor-uh] / mɪˈzʊər i, -ˈzʊər ə /

noun

Missouris plural

1. a state in the central United States. 69,674 sq. mi. (180,455 sq. km). Jefferson City. MO (for use with zip code), Mo.

2. a river flowing from SW Montana into the Mississippi N of St. Louis, Mo. 2,723 miles (4,382 km) long.

3. a member of a North American Indian tribe belonging to the Siouan linguistic stock, located on the Missouri River in early historic times and now extinct as a tribe.

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idioms

1. from Missouri, unwilling to accept something without proof; skeptical.

   I'm from Missouri—you'll have to show me that you're right.

Missouri British  

/ mɪˈzʊərɪ /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Mo.   MO.  a state of the central US: consists of rolling prairies in the north, the Ozark Mountains in the south, and part of the Mississippi flood plain in the southeast, with the Mississippi forming the E border; chief US producer of lead and barytes. Capital: Jefferson City. Pop: 5 704 484 (2003 est). Area: 178 699 sq km (68 995 sq miles)

2. a river in the W and central US, rising in SW Montana: flows north, east, and southeast to join the Mississippi above St Louis; the longest river in North America; chief tributary of the Mississippi. Length: 3970 km (2466 miles)

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Missouri Cultural  

1. State in the central United States bordered by Iowa to the north; Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee to the east; Arkansas to the south; and Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska to the west. Its capital is Jefferson City, and its largest city is St. Louis.

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Missouri More Idioms  

1. see from Missouri.

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Other Word Forms

• Missourian
  adjective

Example Sentences

Before he was an international sports mogul, he was Enos Stanley Kroenke from rural Missouri with sporting heritage scrawled right on his birth certificate—his namesakes were St. Louis Cardinals legends Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026

Other accounts were connected to women who indicated elsewhere that they were based in Pennsylvania, Missouri and Michigan.

From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2026

Stephen Jenkins, who manages the Fontaine Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, told the BBC it was in "a very similar spot" in terms of bookings to this time last year.

From BBC • May 15, 2026

Researchers at the University of Missouri are developing a new way to remove tiny plastic pollutants from water using specially engineered algae.

From Science Daily • May 12, 2026

For example, in 1837 the Mandan Indian tribe, with one of the most elaborate cultures in our Great Plains, contracted smallpox from a steamboat traveling up the Missouri River from St. Louis.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond