district
Americannoun
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districts
plural
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a division of territory, as of a country, state, or county, marked off for administrative, electoral, or other purposes.
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a region or locality.
the theater district; the Lake District.
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British. a subdivision of a county or a town.
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the District, the District of Columbia; Washington, D.C.
verb (used with object)
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districts,
present (3rd person singular)
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districted,
past participle, past
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districting
present participle
noun
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an area of land marked off for administrative or other purposes
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( as modifier )
district nurse
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a locality separated by geographical attributes; region
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any subdivision of any territory, region, etc
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(in England from 1974 and in Wales 1974–96) any of the subdivisions of the nonmetropolitan counties that elects a council responsible for local planning, housing, rates, etc See also metropolitan district
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(in Scotland until 1975) a landward division of a county
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(in Scotland 1975–96) any of the subdivisions of the regions that elected a council responsible for environmental health services, housing, etc
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any of the 26 areas into which Northern Ireland has been divided since 1973. Elected district councils are responsible for environmental health services, etc
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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districtsimple
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districtssimple
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have districtedperfect
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has districtedperfect
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am districtingprogressive
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are districtingprogressive
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is districtingprogressive
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have been districtingperfect progressive
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has been districtingperfect progressive
Past
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districtedsimple
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had districtedperfect
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was districtingprogressive
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were districtingprogressive
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had been districtingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of district
First recorded in 1605–15; from French, from Medieval Latin distrīctus “exercise of justice, restraining of offenders,” derivative of Latin distringere “to stretch out; detain, occupy,” equivalent to di- suffix of separation + strig- (base of stringere “to bind, tie”) + -tus suffix of verbal action; see distrain, di- 2
Explanation
Use the word district to talk about a specific part of your city or town. Your school district, for example, is an officially marked area that designates which school students can attend. When a government outlines a region of a state, city, or town, that area is called a district. Besides school districts, there are also congressional districts and electoral districts, which are set up specifically for organizing voting and governing. In the 1600s, the word district was used for a feudal lord's territory, and it came from the Latin districtus, "territory of jurisdiction," with its root of distringere, "draw apart."
Vocabulary lists containing district
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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.
See Examples For:
Audrey McGinn, senior staff attorney of the Innocence Center, said she was thrilled the district attorney’s office decided to dig deeper into the case and do the right thing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Over the years, Narwat has petitioned chief minister, MPs and district officials, and written to the National Human Rights Commission, seeking improvements to the two Khedi Kalan schools.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
A district court ordered a halt to work on the aboveground ballroom while allowing construction of the underground military bunker to proceed, but that order had been stayed while on appeal.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
“This victory belongs to the voters who made clear that our district cannot be bought,” Wahab posted on Facebook Thursday after the race was called.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
The restaurant district that I’ve already just passed is closer, only two blocks, and with it, the safety of crowds.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Defense spending bills present excellent opportunities for members of Congress to direct jobs to their districts.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
Meta is facing thousands of lawsuits from more than 40 state attorneys general, school districts and individual social media users that allege the company prioritized growth over the safety of its underage users.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
The group, which published the survey Tuesday, said it’s releasing a new “Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum” that’s free for teachers, schools and districts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
It’s not necessarily easy for entire school districts to shift to a new standard, given that teachers have been instructing using these calculators for years.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
I sit like a lady, the way Effie showed me, as the districts slip by.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
“Plaintiffs’ novel proposal is that we dismantle Georgia’s statewide PSC system and replace it with an entirely new districted system,” the court wrote.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2023
As school districted switched to distance learning in March, the nonprofit Partnership for Connecticut spent $24 million to provide 60,000 laptops to high school students.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 2, 2020
Is choosing a more diverse school worth requesting the transfer, or should we stick with our districted school?
From Slate ● Jan. 19, 2020
Less important but still a concern: Only one of our daughter’s friends from day care will attend the school that we are districted for.
From Slate ● Jan. 19, 2020
Again, in the machinery of the internal-revenue laws all these States are districted, not as "Territories," but as "States."
From A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Volume 6, part 2: Andrew Johnson by James D. (James Daniel) Richardson
The justices further acknowledged the emergence of robust two-party competition and the increasing sophistication of computer-generated districting maps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
“A districting plan must comply with the broader constitutional standard of upholding the right to vote on equal terms and to substantially equal voting power,” Associate Justice Robin Hudson wrote in the prevailing opinion.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 16, 2022
“I see the argument on the other side — a state interest in independent districting commissions. But as I read this, it is about districting in Los Angeles,” Chemerinsky said via email.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 7, 2022
The districting committee will host four virtual town hall meetings to collect public input on the proposed maps before voting on a final draft.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 8, 2021
In 1842, he went to the State Senate, opposed the Central Bank, and took an active part in the questions of internal improvements and districting the State, which then divided parties.
From Presidential Candidates: containing Sketches, Biographical, Personal and Political, of Prominent Candidates for the Presidency in 1860 by D. W. Bartlett
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.
