United States

American  

[yoo-nahy-tid stayts] / juˈnaɪ tɪd ˈsteɪts /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

1. Official Name United States of America. a federal republic in the northern Western Hemisphere comprising 48 contiguous states, the District of Columbia, Alaska in North America, and Hawaii in the North Pacific, and in some contexts considered along with its five inhabited island territories (Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, North Mariana Islands,American Samoa ). Conterminous United States, 3,119,885 square miles (8,080,465 square kilometers); with Alaska and Hawaii, 3,796,742 square miles (9,833,517 square kilometers); all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the island territories, 3,805,927 square miles (9,857,306 square kilometers) Washington, D.C. U.S., US

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Other Word Forms

• anti–United States
  adjective
• pro–United States
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of United States

First recorded in 1600–10, in reference to the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and in 1770–80 for the United States of America ( def. )

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

United States

Nscale and Microsoft are still working together on projects in Norway, Portugal and the United States.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was "thankful" that the United States has resumed intelligence sharing after a pause had left his country more vulnerable to Russian missile strikes.

From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2026

The court will decide exactly how closely judges are required to listen to guidelines of the United States Sentencing Commission over how long a convicted defendant can be jailed for.

From Slate ● Oct. 18, 2026

The discovery, published in Nature Astronomy, comes from a study jointly led by Cornell University in the United States and the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

“Because if the United States didn’t exist as one united nation, there wouldn’t have been a country big enough to stop Hitler during World War Two.”

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

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