British India

American  

noun

1. a part of India, comprising 17 provinces, that prior to 1947 was subject to British law: now divided among India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

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British India British  

noun

1. the 17 provinces of India formerly governed by the British under the British sovereign: ceased to exist in 1947 when the independent states of India and Pakistan were created

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

British India

Mr. Woolfson also lingers admiringly on Har Gobind Khorana, a village clerk’s son in British India who went on to synthesize the first fully artificial gene in 1972.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

West Bengal's history of migration dates back to the partition of British India in 1947.

From Barron's ● May 29, 2026

The first census of British India was conducted in 1871-72, 14 years after the shamefully bloody Sepoy Mutiny, and counted some 200 million Indian subjects.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025

Everywhere that he went in the Gulf - Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Oman - he found expected traces of British India.

From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2025

DACCA, a city of British India, giving its name to a district and division of Eastern Bengal and Assam.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 8 "Cube" to "Daguerre, Louis" by Various