North America

American  

noun

1. the northern continent of the Western Hemisphere, extending from Central America to the Arctic Ocean. Highest point, Denali, 20,300 feet (6,187 meters); lowest, Death Valley, 276 feet (84 meters) below sea level. About 9,360,000 square miles (24,242,400 square kilometers).

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North America British  

noun

1. the third largest continent, linked with South America by the Isthmus of Panama and bordering on the Arctic Ocean, the N Pacific, the N Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean. It consists generally of a great mountain system (the Western Cordillera) extending along the entire W coast, actively volcanic in the extreme north and south, with the Great Plains to the east and the Appalachians still further east, separated from the Canadian Shield by an arc of large lakes (Great Bear, Great Slave, Winnipeg, Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario); reaches its greatest height of 6194 m (20 320 ft) in Mount McKinley, Alaska, and its lowest point of 85 m (280 ft) below sea level in Death Valley, California, and ranges from snowfields, tundra, and taiga in the north to deserts in the southwest and tropical forests in the extreme south. Pop: 332 156 000 (2005 est). Area: over 24 000 000 sq km (9 500 000 sq miles)

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North America Cultural  

1. Third-largest continent (after Asia and Africa), comprising Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Central America.

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Other Word Forms

• North American
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of North America

First recorded in 1680–90

Example Sentences

Diageo’s DGE -0.38%decrease; red down pointing triangle revenue rose in the third quarter of its fiscal year as the Guinness maker seeks to revive lackluster drinks sales in North America.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026

A magnitude 7.2 quake in 1959 centered in Montana near Yellowstone National Park triggered the largest quake-triggered landslide on record in North America.

From Los Angeles Times • May 4, 2026

Goldman Sachs noted that hedge funds, meanwhile, sold stocks, led by North America and Europe, for the first time in four weeks in the period up to April 30.

From MarketWatch • May 4, 2026

Following a whopping $97 million debut last weekend in North America, the movie has taken in over $423 million at the global box office.

From Barron's • May 3, 2026

According to current estimates, within that short interval, North America lost thirty-four out of its forty-seven genera of large mammals.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari