Bristol

American  

[bris-tl] / ˈbrɪs tl /

noun

1. a seaport in Avon, in southwestern England, on the Avon River near its confluence with the Severn estuary.

2. a city in central Connecticut.

3. a township in southeastern Pennsylvania, on the Delaware River.

4. a deepwater seaport in eastern Rhode Island.

5. a city in northeastern Tennessee, contiguous to but politically independent of Bristol, Virginia.

6. a city in southwestern Virginia, contiguous to but politically independent of Bristol, Tennessee.

7. a bi-state region comprising the twin cities of Bristol, Tennessee, and Bristol, Virginia.

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Bristol British  

/ ˈbrɪstəl /

noun

1. a port and industrial city in SW England, mainly in Bristol unitary authority, on the River Avon seven miles from its mouth on the Bristol Channel: a major port, trading with America, in the 17th and 18th centuries; the modern port consists chiefly of docks at Avonmouth and Portishead; noted for the Clifton Suspension Bridge (designed by I. K. Brunel, 1834) over the Avon gorge; Bristol university (1909) and University of the West of England (1992). Pop: 420 556 (2001)

2. a unitary authority in SW England, created in 1996 from part of Avon county. Pop: 391 500 (2003 est). Area: 110 sq km (42 sq miles)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Bristol

"You can literally see Shaun the Sheep here in Bristol and in Outer Mongolia."

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

The study was led by researchers from Oxford University's Department of Earth Sciences in collaboration with the University of Bristol and the University of Oxford's Department of Statistics.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026

Morph became a hit with children and parents alike, and remains a fixture at Aardman's Bristol headquarters.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

Bristol Myers Squibb told regulators, researchers and patient-advocacy groups in early June that it had paused closely watched drug research because of life-threatening side effects.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

So off we set, my mother and I and my trunk and my tuck-box, and we boarded the paddle-steamer and went swooshing across the Bristol Channel in a shower of spray.

From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl