Pennsylvania

American  

[pen-suhl-veyn-yuh, -vey-nee-uh] / ˌpɛn səlˈveɪn jə, -ˈveɪ ni ə /

noun

1. a state in the eastern United States. 45,333 sq. mi. (117,410 sq. km). Harrisburg. PA (for use with zip code), Pa., Penn., Penna.

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Pennsylvania British  

/ ˌpɛnsɪlˈveɪnɪə /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Pa.   Penn.   Penna.   PA.  a state of the northeastern US: almost wholly in the Appalachians, with the Allegheny Plateau to the west and a plain in the southeast; the second most important US state for manufacturing. Capital: Harrisburg. Pop: 12 365 455 (2003 est). Area: 116 462 sq km (44 956 sq miles)

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Pennsylvania Cultural  

1. State in the northeastern United States bordered by Lake Erie and New York to the north; New Jersey to the east; Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia to the south; and Ohio to the west. Its capital is Harrisburg, and its largest city is Philadelphia.

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Discover More

Named after the father of William Penn, a devout Quaker, who was granted proprietary rights by the king of England to almost the whole of what is now Pennsylvania in the late seventeenth century.

One of the thirteen colonies.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Pennsylvania

Twenty-seven states allow the death penalty, but governors in four of them — California, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have paused executions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

The acknowledgment comes after Reuters reported that Kennedy directed CDC Director Erica Schwartz to remove references to two Pennsylvania deaths from the agency’s national measles count after questioning whether the disease contributed to them.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

For the nation’s 250th anniversary, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art are saying goodbye to all that.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

This weekend, leave the predictable bag of chips behind and win the cookout with thrilling bites from Thailand, Canada, and even … Pennsylvania.

From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2026

Little more than an hour before Lincoln died, George Atzerodt rose from his humble room at the Pennsylvania House and left the hotel.

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson