British Isles

American  

plural noun

1. a group of islands in W Europe: Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and adjacent small islands. 120,592 sq. mi. (312,300 sq. km).

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British Isles British  

plural noun

1. a group of islands in W Europe, consisting of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Orkney, Shetland, the Channel Islands belonging to Great Britain, and the islands adjacent to these

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British Isles Cultural  

1. The islands of Great Britain and Ireland and a number of smaller islands off their coasts.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

British Isles

The third-largest Channel Island had some of the best views of the eclipse in the British Isles, despite some cloud cover.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

While the Isle of Man's Tynwald became the first parliament in the British Isles to agree a framework for assisted dying in March 2025, it has not yet been granted Royal Assent.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

Jersey's assisted dying law was passed in February and that was seen as a landmark moment, as it was the second place in the British Isles to approve an assisted dying law.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

Along my journey over my 30 years as a manager, I was made aware that this tradition was only really observed in the British Isles, and not in mainland Europe.

From BBC ● May 15, 2026

Michael Fish said the area of low pressure moving over the British Isles is coming from the Urals.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell