Chicago
Americannoun
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Judy Judy Cohen, born 1939, U.S. artist, author, and educator.
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a city in NE Illinois, on Lake Michigan: second largest city in the U.S.
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a river formed in Chicago that flows through downtown and, as engineered, to the Des Plaines River: part of the Illinois Waterway.
noun
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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.
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.
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.
Chicago's downtown is referred to as the “Loop” because it is enclosed by elevated railways, called the “El.”
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.”
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.
After Tuesday’s roster announcement in New York, the team will fly to Atlanta for training camp ahead of friendlies with Senegal in Charlotte, N.C., on May 31 and against Germany on June 6 in Chicago.
From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2026
Protesters demonstrated against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for weeks outside the facility, which is roughly 10 miles from downtown Chicago.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
An Englishman born in Liverpool, Mr. Bennett moved to Chicago in 1993 and is now an American citizen.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
A Chicago-area listing service, MRED, cut its data connection, reducing Zillow’s Chicago listings by over half to 662.
From Barron's • May 21, 2026
He followed it up with, "George has already made preparations for us all to go to Chicago."
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
