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

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said on Sunday that the number of insurance checks were being increased, with more than 600 ships stopped while sailing close to the British Isles.

From BBC

Ms. Jackson presents the Jacobean era as an inflection point for the British Isles, encompassing a series of firsts as well as lasts.

From The Wall Street Journal

The dig team at the Ness, one of the most important Neolithic sites in the British Isles, are not revealing what they believe the find to be until more work is done.

From BBC

The Channel Islands-based airline, which employed about 100 staff, operated flights to various locations in the British Isles, and also to Bruges and Paris.

From BBC

This isn’t the first time musicians from the British Isles have had to educate Americans on their own culture.

From Salon