Arizona

American  

[ar-uh-zoh-nuh] / ˌær əˈzoʊ nə /

noun

1. a state in the southwestern United States. 113,909 sq. mi. (295,025 sq. km). Phoenix. AZ (for use with zip code), Ariz.

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Arizona British  

/ ˌærɪˈzəʊnə /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Ariz..   AZ.  a state of the southwestern US: consists of the Colorado plateau in the northeast, including the Grand Canyon, divided from desert in the southwest by mountains rising over 3750 m (12 500 ft). Capital: Phoenix. Pop: 5 580 811 (2003 est). Area: 293 750 sq km (113 417 sq miles)

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Arizona Cultural  

1. State in the southwestern United States bordered by Utah to the north, New Mexico to the east, Mexico to the south, and California and Nevada to the west. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix.

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Discover More

The Grand Canyon is in northwestern Arizona.

Other Word Forms

• Arizonan adjective
• Arizonian adjective

Compare meaning

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

• uh vs. Arizona

Example Sentences

My maternal grandmother, Marcela Fernández, was born in 1914 in an Arizona copper town to parents who fled the Mexican Revolution before returning to their mountain pueblo in Zacatecas.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2026

In parts of Arizona and California, temperatures hit 112ºF — a first in March, breaking a record that hadn’t been touched since March 1954, when the mercury reached 108ºF in Rio Grande City, Texas.

From Salon • Apr. 4, 2026

LaNeve has held several other high-level positions in the military, which he joined from the University of Arizona in 1990.

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026

A new study led by Yongda Zhu at the University of Arizona suggests these black holes can also slow the formation of stars in galaxies located millions of light-years away.

From Science Daily • Mar. 30, 2026

Somewhere in Arizona our ugly brown car starts sputtering.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy