Appalachia

[ ap-uh-ley-chuh, -lach-uh, -ley-chee-uh, -lach-ee-uh ]

noun

1. a region in the eastern United States, in the area of the southern Appalachian Mountains, usually including northeastern Alabama, northwestern Georgia, northwestern South Carolina, western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, western Virginia, eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, and eastern Ohio.
2. Geology. a Paleozoic landmass, the erosion of which provided the sediments to form the rocks of the Appalachian Mountains.

Appalachia

/ ˌæpəˈleɪtʃɪə /

noun

1. a highland region of the eastern US, containing the Appalachian Mountains, extending from Pennsylvania to Alabama

Appalachia

1. A mountainous region in the eastern United States, running from northern Alabama to Pennsylvania , and including parts of Georgia , South Carolina , North Carolina , Tennessee , Kentucky , Virginia , and all of West Virginia .

Notes

A major coal-mining center and one of the most impoverished regions of the country.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Appalachia¹

First recorded in 1920–25; back formation from Appalachian ( def )

Example Sentences

Ohio’s other vacant congressional district is the conservative 15th, which takes in a wide swath of south-central Ohio from the Columbus suburbs to Appalachia.

From FiveThirtyEight

Pockets of persistent poverty exist in Appalachia, in the Mississippi Delta region, along the Texas-Mexico border, in the central corridor of California, in the Southwest and in the northern Plains — all places where well-paid jobs are scarce.

From Washington Post

Mortality from drug overdoses rose consistently in every state, especially in Appalachia, New England and parts of the Midwest ravaged by industrial job losses.

From Science News

Zermatt, which is now perhaps the most posh resort on earth, was once poorer than 1930s Appalachia.

From Outside Online

Rogers has since promoted the program as a key economic driver in Appalachia.

From ProPublica

Vast pockets of both continued to exist well after that—in Appalachia and the inner cities, for example—and some exist still.

From The Daily Beast

President Lyndon Johnson had just taken a tour of communities in Appalachia without electricity, running water, or sewage systems.

From The Daily Beast

He saw a similarly large collapse in Appalachia, home to large numbers of lower-income whites.

From The Daily Beast

The coal industry is blowing the tops off mountains in Appalachia.

From The Daily Beast

In rural Appalachia, the drug is sometimes referred to as “hillbilly heroin.”

From The Daily Beast

The first problem of Appalachia to-day is the very same problem as that of western Pennsylvania in 1784.

From Project Gutenberg

Every stranger in Appalachia is quick to note the high percentage of defectives among the people.

From Project Gutenberg

Throughout Appalachia such words as last, past, advantage, are pronounced with the same vowel sound as is heard in man.

From Project Gutenberg

I cannot quit this topic without reference to the bizarre and original place-names that sprinkle the map of Appalachia.

From Project Gutenberg

The United States topographers report that in Appalachia, as a whole, the mountain slopes occupy 90 per cent.

From Project Gutenberg