county

¹ American  

[koun-tee] / ˈkaʊn ti /

noun

counties plural

1. the largest administrative division of a U.S. state.

   Miami, Florida, is in Dade County.

2. one of the chief administrative divisions of a country or state, as in Great Britain and Ireland.

3. one of the larger divisions for purposes of local administration, as in Canada and New Zealand.

4. the territory of a county, especially its rural areas.

   We farmed out in the county before moving to town.

5. the inhabitants of a county.

   It was supposed to be a secret, but you told the whole county.

6. the domain of a count or earl.

---

county ² American  

[koun-tee] / ˈkaʊn ti /

noun

Obsolete.

1. count.

---

county British  

/ ˈkaʊntɪ /

noun

1. 1. any of the administrative or geographic subdivisions of certain states, esp any of the major units into which England and Wales are or have been divided for purposes of local government

   2. ( as modifier )

      county cricket

2. an electoral division in a rural area

3. obsolete the lands under the jurisdiction of a count or earl

---

adjective

1. informal having the characteristics and habits of the inhabitants of country houses and estates, esp an upper-class accent and an interest in horses, dogs, etc

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• counties
  plural

Etymology

Origin of county¹

1250–1300; Middle English counte < Anglo-French counté, Old French cunté, conte < Late Latin comitātus imperial seat, office of a comes ( see count ²), equivalent to Latin comit-, stem of comes + -ātus -ate ³ (or by reanalysis of Latin comitātus escort, retinue, originally verbal noun of comitārī to accompany, derivative of comes

Origin of county²

1540–50; < Anglo-French counte count ²; -y by confusion with county ¹

Explanation

A county is a specific region of a state or country. While the United States is made up of 50 states, it also has over 3000 counties. In the U.S., a county is a separate administrative area of a state — in other words, there is a local government that manages each individual county. In some parts of the country, there are town governments in addition to county governments, both of which are subordinate to the state government. The states range from having three counties (Delaware) to 254 counties (Texas). The Latin root of county is comitatus, "jurisdiction of a count."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

county counties

Harshey-Jones, from Rhos-on-Sea, Conwy county, was released on conditional bail until the 30 September, with a provisional trial date set for 16 August 2027.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

He was suspended from duties following the alleged incident involving a teenage girl in Colwyn Bay, Conwy county, in June.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

A wildfire burning near the Los Angeles-San Bernardino county line grew to more than 2,600 acres Saturday, spurring evacuation orders in Llano amid searing heat and approaching monsoonal weather conditions across Southern California.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

With nearly 200 cases reported in their county alone, the Washtenaw County Health Department in southeastern Michigan is trying to find any commonalities among patients, said Susan Ringler-Cerniglia, spokeswoman for the county health department.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

Justice Department official warned that there were more fugitives hiding out in the Osage Hills than “perhaps any other county in the state or any state in the Union.”

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Dozens of cities and counties across the U.S. have issued temporary halts on data-center construction.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

Regarding the curfew, there are periods when players would naturally leave the England camp, either because there is a long gap between matches or they have been released to their counties.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

A massive drop in revenue is potentially looming for the Sunshine State’s cities and counties.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

Published in May, the Johns Hopkins Agora Institute and ReD Associates conducted an in-depth research of conservatives in three red counties in Michigan, South Carolina and Wyoming.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

When the mountain first began erupting on March 27, three county deputies were sent to staff a roadblock at the line between Skamania and Cowlitz counties, just west of the mountain.

From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone