Rocky Mountains

American  

[rok-ee maun-tnz] / ˈrɒk i ˈmaʊn 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).

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Rocky Mountains British  

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

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Rocky Mountains Cultural  

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

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Etymology

Origin of Rocky Mountains

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Rocky Mountains

Conditions worsened in 2026 when the river's headwaters in the southern Rocky Mountains experienced the earliest snowmelt on record.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026

An abnormally dry winter resulted in a much-diminished snowpack in the Rocky Mountains, while the scorching temperatures of the hottest July ever recorded in the US have increased evaporation from the lake, he said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

Grandmother Sara Folger sits in the kitchen of her single-wide trailer, the Rocky Mountains looming in the distance, and remembers the Bozeman, Montana she fell in love with decades ago.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

Wildfires pose the greatest reliability risk in the Rocky Mountains, where they can disproportionately affect rural cooperatives, according to NERC.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

I have built campfires in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and hunted wild turkey in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls

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