continental United States

American

[kon-tn-en-tl yoo-nahy-tid steyts] / ˌkɒn tnˈɛn tl yuˈnaɪ tɪd ˈsteɪts /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

an official designation for the 49 states, plus the District of Columbia, that are located on the continent of North America, which does not include the state of Hawaii.

Etymology

Origin of continental United States

First recorded in 1915–20

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.

WTI barrels, by contrast, sit in the continental United States and flow through pipelines to Gulf Cost refineries, said Germini, who’s also publisher of the “Energy Pipeline” newsletter on Substack.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 13, 2026

The continental United States is more than 6,000 miles from Iran's western tip.

From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026

Plus, a substantial portion of the continental United States is buried under a sheet of ice and snow, conditions that aren’t conducive to travel.

From Slate • Jan. 26, 2026

To identify detailed pollution patterns, the team divided the continental United States into a grid made up of 4 kilometer by 4 kilometer squares.

From Science Daily • Jan. 26, 2026

Agriculture occurred in as much as two-thirds of what is now the continental United States, with large swathes of the Southwest terraced and irrigated.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

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