Chennai

American

[chen-ahi] / ˈtʃɛn ɑɪ /

noun

a seaport in and the capital of Tamil Nadu state, in SE India, on the Bay of Bengal.

Chennai British

/ tʃɪˈnaɪ /

noun

Former name: Madras. a port in SE India, capital of Tamil Nadu, on the Bay of Bengal: founded in 1639 by the English East India Company as Fort St George ; traditional burial place of St Thomas; university (1857). Pop: 4 216 268 (2001)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Defending champions India kept their T20 World Cup semi-final hopes alive and eliminated opponents Zimbabwe with a 72-run victory in Chennai.

From BBC • Feb. 26, 2026

An India win against Zimbabwe in Chennai later Thursday will guarantee South Africa's progress to the last four.

From Barron's • Feb. 26, 2026

Chasing 187, they were bowled out for 111 - a result which left them in near must-win territory as they headed to Chennai.

From BBC • Feb. 26, 2026

L&T said it would use Nvidia's powerful processors, which can train and run generative AI tech, to provide data centre capacity of up to 30 megawatts in Chennai and 40 megawatts in Mumbai.

From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026

"That's your father when he was your age. We alerted the police in Chennai city. They're too busy to search for every poor child who goes missing, but it helped that we filed a report."

From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023