Indies
Americannoun
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(used with a plural verb) the Indies. West Indies.
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(used with a plural verb) East Indies.
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(used with a singular verb) a region in and near southern and southeastern Asia; India, Indochina, and the East Indies.
noun
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the territories of S and SE Asia included in the East Indies, India, and Indochina
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See East Indies
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See West Indies
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.
Plantation slavery was perfected in the West Indies, notably on the sugar islands of British Barbados and present-day Haiti, where the system proved immensely profitable.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
In all, millions of African captives were shipped to the West Indies and Brazil, many times the number taken to British North America.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
In one memorable passage on the French West Indies, he writes:
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
The 76-year-old was the first man to reach 10,000 runs in Test cricket and was part of the India team that famously shocked West Indies in the 1983 World Cup final.
From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026
The first European settlements in the Americas, beginning with the one founded by Columbus in 1492, were in the West Indies.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
