Chicago

[ shi-kah-goh, -kaw- ]

noun

Judy Judy Cohen, born 1939, U.S. artist, author, and educator.
a city in NE Illinois, on Lake Michigan: second largest city in the U.S.

a river formed in Chicago that flows through downtown and, as engineered, to the Des Plaines River: part of the Illinois Waterway.

Words Nearby Chicago

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Chicago in a sentence

I think it’s frightening for Chicago and frightening for the Midwest, but also, it’s a bellwether for what the country might look like down the road, because so few publications are investing in this kind of coverage.
How the Past Year Changed Restaurant Criticism | Ellie Krupnick | February 25, 2021 | Eater
I remember helping my mom with our backyard vines when I was a kid, watching seedlings sprout and grow tall in the humid Chicago sunshine, counting the fruits, weighing them in my small palms, waiting for them to turn bright red.
How to make a wonderful BLT with out-of-season tomatoes | Daniela Galarza | February 25, 2021 | Washington Post
In Chicago, the frequency of the crime more than doubled in 2020 to a rate of about four per day.
Teens drive brutal spike in carjackings with covid limiting school and supervision | Dan Morse, Tom Jackman | February 25, 2021 | Washington Post
Lenny Patrick was born in Chicago in 1913, one of four sons of Morris and Ester Patrick, Jewish immigrants from England who ended up in the Lawndale neighborhood.
The Murder Chicago Didn’t Want to Solve | by Mick Dumke | February 25, 2021 | ProPublica
A spokeswoman for the Chicago health department, Erica Duncan, said vaccine supply was “very limited” and urged patience as the city works to make the shots more easily accessible.
People are struggling to get vaccine appointments. A 14-year-old stepped in to help. | Marisa Iati | February 25, 2021 | Washington Post

Kulash moved out to Chicago to be with them and OK Go was officially born.
OK Go Is Helping Redefine the Music Video For the Internet Age | Lauren Schwartzberg | December 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
For OK Go, the four-piece band from Chicago, mainstream success started with eight treadmills and a choreographed dance routine.
OK Go Is Helping Redefine the Music Video For the Internet Age | Lauren Schwartzberg | December 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Then the two hopped in a car and “drove around Chicago like lunatics,” Wald remembered.
How Richard Pryor Beat Bill Cosby and Transformed America | David Yaffe, Scott Saul | December 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Because when I did Chicago I had to make changes, make cuts from the original musical, and I heard nothing!
Rob Marshall Defends ‘Into the Woods’ | Kevin Fallon | December 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Here are just a few of the most egregious uses of lethal force by Chicago police.
Chicago’s Cops Don’t Even Get Investigated for Shooting People in the Back | Justin Glawe | December 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
He decided not to return home directly; he wanted to go somewhere, but did not care to stay in Chicago.
The Homesteader | Oscar Micheaux
So with its completion, he wrapped it carefully, and sent it to a Chicago publisher, while he sighed with relief.
The Homesteader | Oscar Micheaux
She was a woman, and in truth she would have married the man beside her had he have come hither when he had gone to Chicago.
The Homesteader | Oscar Micheaux
The social ambitions of the Tippetts were so definitely quenched that the indignant millionaire threatened to return to Chicago.
Ancestors | Gertrude Atherton
It is said that the rancher visited Chicago several times following in an effort to persuade her to return.
The Homesteader | Oscar Micheaux

British Dictionary definitions for Chicago

Chicago

/ (ʃɪˈkɑːɡəʊ) /

noun

a port in NE Illinois, on Lake Michigan: the third largest city in the US; it is a major railway and air traffic centre. Pop: 2 869 121 (2003 est)

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

Cultural definitions for Chicago

Chicago

Largest city in Illinois; located on Lake Michigan.

Notes for Chicago

Originally called the “Windy City” because the city bragged about the 1893 World Expo that was held there. The term has since come to refer to the strong northern winds that blow off the lake in the winter.

Notes for Chicago

For many years the second largest city in the United States, before being displaced by Los Angeles, and therefore referred to as the “Second City.”

Notes for Chicago

During the time of Prohibition, Chicago was controlled by gangsters, Al Capone being the most notorious. Gangster warfare continued long after this particularly violent period.

Notes for Chicago

Carl Sandburg, in his poem “Chicago,” called the city the “Hog Butcher for the World” because of Chicago's heavy involvement in the meatpacking industry.

Notes for Chicago

Chicago's downtown is referred to as the “Loop” because it is enclosed by elevated railways, called the “El.”

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