Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

Darien

American  
[dair-ee-en, -uhn, dar-, dair-ee-en, dar-] / ˈdɛər iˌɛn, -ən, ˈdær-, ˌdɛər iˈɛn, ˌdær- /

noun

  1. Gulf of Darien, an arm of the Caribbean between northeastern Panama and northwestern Colombia.

  2. Isthmus of Darien, former name of the Isthmus of Panama.

  3. a town in southwestern Connecticut.

  4. a city in northeastern Illinois.


Darien British  
/ ˈdæ-, ˈdɛərɪən /

noun

  1. the E part of the Isthmus of Panama, between the Gulf of Darien on the Caribbean coast and the Gulf of San Miguel on the Pacific coast; chiefly within the republic of Panama but extending also into Colombia: site of a disastrous attempt to establish a Scottish colony in 1698

  2. the former name of the Isthmus of Panama

"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

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 moving to Darien, Conn., the introverted Dalton struggled to make friends until she started playing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

“Petey’s like ‘No way, my best friend from school lives in Darien, you should talk to him,’” Berard says.

From The Wall Street Journal • Aug. 13, 2025

They are now one of the top nationalities crossing the dangerous Darien Gap jungle from South to North America.

From BBC • Mar. 18, 2025

A few beats later, she shared about how she had been separated from her parents for days while they hiked across the Darien Gap, a dense jungle on the Colombia-Panama border.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 20, 2024

However, they are fragmented by geography and by ecology: the Isthmus of Panama, only 40 miles wide, virtually transects the Americas geographically, as do the isthmus’s Darien rain forests and the northern Mexican desert ecologically.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond