Alaska

American  

[uh-las-kuh] / əˈlæs kə /

noun

1. a state of the United States in northwestern North America. 586,400 sq. mi. (1,519,000 sq. km). Juneau. AK (for use with zip code), Alas.

2. Gulf of Alaska, a gulf of the Pacific Ocean, on the coast of southern Alaska.

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Alaska British  

/ əˈlæskə /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Alas, AK. the largest state of the US, in the extreme northwest of North America: the aboriginal inhabitants are Inuit and Yupik; the earliest White settlements were made by the Russians; it was purchased by the US from Russia in 1867. It is mostly mountainous and volcanic, rising over 6000 m (20 000 ft), with the Yukon basin in the central region; large areas are covered by tundra; it has important mineral resources (chiefly coal, oil, and natural gas). Capital: Juneau. Pop: 648 818 (2003 est). Area: 1 530 694 sq km (591 004 sq miles)

2. the N part of the Pacific, between the Alaska Peninsula and the Alexander Archipelago

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Alaska Cultural  

1. State in northwesternmost North America bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north; Yukon, Canada, to the east; the Pacific Ocean to the south; and the Bering Sea to the west. Its capital is Juneau, and its largest city is Anchorage.

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Discover More

The forty-ninth state, admitted in 1959, and the largest.

Other Word Forms

• Alaskan
  adjective

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Compare meaning

How does alaska compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Alaska vs. Hawaii

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Alaska

Yet previous rounds of talks, including a Trump-Putin summit in Alaska in August 2025, have produced no breakthroughs.

From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026

The process was also slowed by a near-catastrophic January 2024 Alaska Airlines flight in which a fuselage panel blew out mid-flight.

From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026

Alaska Air’s loss was driven by what the company described as a “significant fuel headwind.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026

Landslides are common in the coastal mountains of Alaska where rapid uplift, caused by tectonic forces and long-term ice loss, converges with the erosive forces of precipitation and moving glaciers.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026

If you’re hungry, you wouldn’t want to live in Alaska, I’ll bet.

From "Crenshaw" by Katherine Applegate

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