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Westphalia

American  
[west-fey-lee-uh, -feyl-yuh] / wɛstˈfeɪ li ə, -ˈfeɪl jə /

noun

  1. a former province in NW Germany, now a part of North Rhine-Westphalia: treaty ending the Thirty Years' War 1648.


Westphalia British  
/ wɛstˈfeɪlɪə /

noun

  1. German name: Westfalen.  a historic region of NW Germany, now mostly in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia

"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

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Example Sentences

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Since the modern nation-state system was organized by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1688, state sovereignty has been the bedrock of international law.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 23, 2026

"We know that there is a lot of money circulating right now," Stephanie Thien, head of the state office for combating financial crime in North-Rhine Westphalia, told AFP.

From Barron's • Oct. 9, 2025

Last summer, Göttingen in Lower Saxony and Siegen in North Rhine Westphalia allowed women to swim topless.

From BBC • Mar. 9, 2023

The Peace of Westphalia, which ended the war in 1648, established the independence of each of the entities, numbering nearly one thousand, that had made up the Holy Roman Empire.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

And with the dukedom went the hand of a Russian princess, whose face Saxe unchivalrously compared to a Westphalia ham.

From Superwomen by Terhune, Albert Payson

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