exclave
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of exclave
First recorded in 1885–90; ex- 1 + -clave, modeled on enclave
Compare meaning
How does exclave compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
An exclave is a region of one country that's separated from the rest by another country's territory. There are many exclaves around the world. Alaska is a well-known example of an exclave because it is part of the United States but separated from the mainland by Canadian territory. Another famous exclave is Kaliningrad Oblast, which is a part of Russia, but surrounded by Poland, Lithuania, and the Baltic Sea. Exclaves often face challenges like relying on neighbors for trade and travel while developing unique cultural and political traits shaped by their isolation.
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.
Believed to originate from North Africa, the roughly 230 primates are the main attraction in the British exclave of 30,000 people that borders southern Spain, according to the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society.
From Barron's • May 22, 2026
But Iran owns only one shore of the strait—Oman’s Musandam exclave sits on the other.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026
Passenger trains running between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad through Lithuania will not be affected by the decision, the government said.
From Barron's • Oct. 29, 2025
The route will connect Azerbaijan and its autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, which are separated by Armenian territory.
From BBC • Aug. 8, 2025
Armenian leaders remain preoccupied by the long conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a primarily Armenian-populated exclave, assigned to Soviet Azerbaijan in the 1920s by Moscow.
From The 2001 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency
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.
