Quebec

[ kwi-bek, ki- ]

noun
  1. a province in eastern Canada. 594,860 sq. mi. (1,540,685 sq. km).: Formerly Low·er Can·a·da [loh-er] /ˈloʊ ər/ .

  2. a seaport in and the capital of this province, on the St. Lawrence: capital of New France from 1663 to 1759, when it was taken by the English; wartime conferences 1943, 1944.

  1. a word used in communications to represent the letter Q.

  • French Qué·bec [key-bek] /keɪˈbɛk/ (for defs. 1, 2).

Words Nearby Quebec

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Quebec in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for Quebec

Quebec

/ (kwɪˈbɛk, kə-, kɛ-) /


noun
  1. a province of E Canada: the largest Canadian province; a French colony from 1608 to 1763, when it passed to Britain; lying mostly on the Canadian Shield, it has vast areas of forest and extensive tundra and is populated mostly in the plain around the St Lawrence River. Capital: Quebec. Pop: 7 542 760 (2004 est). Area: 1 540 680 sq km (594 860 sq miles): Abbreviation: PQ

  2. a port in E Canada, capital of the province of Quebec, situated on the St Lawrence River: founded in 1608 by Champlain; scene of the battle of the Plains of Abraham (1759), by which the British won Canada from the French. Pop: 169 076 (2001)

  1. communications a code word for the letter q

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Quebec

Quebec

Province in eastern Canada, bordered to the east by Newfoundland, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean); to the southeast by New Brunswick and several states of the United States; to the southwest by Ontario; to the west by Ontario and Hudson Bay; and to the north by islands of the Northwest Territories. Its capital is Quebec City, and its largest city is Montreal.

Notes for Quebec

A French colony from 1663 to 1759, Quebec was then lost to the British.

Notes for Quebec

It is Canada's largest province in area and second largest in population, after Ontario.

Notes for Quebec

With French as its official language, Quebec has experienced tensions between its majority French and minority English cultures.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.