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

The next time the Moon obscures as much of the Sun on the British Isles will be in 2081, and the next total solar eclipse in the UK will be in 2090.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

A total of 44 communities from across the British Isles are set to take part, with Alderney shortlisted in the coastal category.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 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

The country’s ten thousand dead had gone unmoumed and uneulogized while the boys went on singing English songs and playing cricket, moved only by reports that reached them, three weeks late, from the British Isles.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende