Pennsylvania

American  

[pen-suhl-vayn-yuh, -vay-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

As one woman in Pennsylvania told me, “I don’t think it’s something that a regular person can quit on their own.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2026

Hammond, who has about 800 cows in Glade Spring, Va., says the loss of Tyson’s plant and JBS’s Pennsylvania plant is a huge blow to the region.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026

“We have a lot of investment that’s going into Western Pennsylvania, and, you’re also seeing a lot of movement into Alabama.”

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 9, 2026

The special film was jointly invented by researchers at Caltech and the University of Pennsylvania, where the collaborating team was led by Professor Igor Bargatin.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 9, 2026

Except the big difference, according to Aunt Nancy, between their first home and their last, is that Pennsylvania hills “have got nothing on the Sangre de Cristo.”

From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers

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