Washington

American  

[wosh-ing-tuhn, waw-shing-] / ˈwɒʃ ɪŋ tən, ˈwɔ ʃɪŋ- /

noun

1. Booker T(aliaferro) 1856–1915, U.S. reformer, educator, author, and lecturer.

2. George, 1732–99, American general and political leader: 1st president of the United States 1789–97.

3. Martha Martha Dandridge, 1732–1802, wife of George.

4. Also called Washington, D.C.  the capital of the United States, on the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia: coextensive with the District of Columbia. Wash.

5. Also called Washington State.  a state in the northwestern United States, on the Pacific coast. 68,192 square miles (176,615 square kilometers). Olympia. WA (for use with zip code), Wash.

6. a city in southwestern Pennsylvania.

7. a city in southwestern Indiana.

8. a town in central Illinois.

9. Mount Washington, a mountain in northern New Hampshire, in the White Mountains: highest peak in the northeastern United States. 6,293 feet (1,918 meters).

10. Lake Washington, a lake in western Washington, near Seattle. 20 miles (32 kilometers) long.

11. a male given name.

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Washington ¹ British  

/ ˈwɒʃɪŋtən /

noun

1. Booker T ( aliaferro ). 1856–1915, US Black educationalist and writer

2. Denzil (ˈdɛnzəl). US film actor; his films include Glory (1990), Malcolm X (1992), The Hurricane (1999), and John Q. (2002)

3. George. 1732–99, US general and statesman; first president of the US (1789–97). He was appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army (1775) at the outbreak of the War of American Independence, which ended with his defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown (1781). He presided over the convention at Philadelphia (1787) that formulated the constitution of the US and elected him president

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Washington ² British  

/ ˈwɒʃɪŋtən /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Wash.   WA.  a state of the northwestern US, on the Pacific: consists of the Coast Range and the Olympic Mountains in the west and the Columbia Plateau in the east. Capital: Olympia. Pop: 6 131 445 (2003 est). Area: 172 416 sq km (66 570 sq miles)

2. Also called: Washington, DC.  the capital of the US, coextensive with the District of Columbia and situated near the E coast on the Potomac River: site chosen by President Washington in 1790; contains the White House and the Capitol; a major educational and administrative centre. Pop: 563 384 (2003 est)

3. a town in Tyne and Wear: designated a new town in 1964. Pop: 53 388 (2001)

4. a mountain in N New Hampshire, in the White Mountains: the highest peak in the northeast US; noted for extreme weather conditions. Height: 1917 m (6288 ft)

5. a lake in W Washington, forming the E boundary of the city of Seattle: linked by canal with Puget Sound. Length: about 32 km (20 miles). Width: 6 km (4 miles)

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Washington Cultural  

1. State in the northwestern United States bordered by British Columbia, Canada, to the north; Idaho to the east; Oregon to the south; and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Its capital is Olympia, and its largest city is Seattle. The area to the west of the Cascades, which run north and south through the middle of the state, is wet, mountainous, and forested, that to the east is arid.

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Example Sentences

That winter, he and Chakrabarti pored over the works of Paul Cret, the French-American architect who designed the Federal Reserve, the Folger Shakespeare Library and other buildings around Washington and beyond.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 13, 2026

Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and the other principals of the American Revolution are familiar faces from their innumerable portraits, including on the currency; their British opponents, less so.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 13, 2026

The Swiss were horrified when Washington slapped 39% tariffs on Swiss goods, and an agreement to get them lowered to 15% has still not been finalised.

From BBC • Jun. 12, 2026

They’re interested in the wave of new stock market listings, many tied in some way to Wall Street’s fixation with all things AI, and the back-and-forth between Washington and Tehran about the war.

From Barron's • Jun. 12, 2026

I am thousands of miles away in France, but somehow I am still here in Washington, and I have no choice but to run home.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

Related Words

• authority
• law
• ministry
• politics
• power
• regime
• rule
• state
• union