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Florence

[flawr-uh ns, flor-]
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noun
  1. Italian Firenze. a city in central Italy, on the Arno River: capital of the former grand duchy of Tuscany.
  2. a city in NW Alabama, on the Tennessee River.
  3. a city in E South Carolina.
  4. a town in N Kentucky.
  5. a female given name: from a Latin word meaning “flowery.”
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

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British Dictionary definitions for florence

Florence

noun
  1. a city in central Italy, on the River Arno in Tuscany: became an independent republic in the 14th century; under Austrian and other rule intermittently from 1737 to 1859; capital of Italy 1865–70. It was the major cultural and artistic centre of the Renaissance and is still one of the world's chief art centres. Pop: 356 118 (2001)Ancient name: Florentia (flɒˈrɛntsɪə, -ˈrɛntɪə) Italian name: Firenze
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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

Word Origin and History for florence

Florence

fem. proper name, from Latin Florentia, fem. of Florentius, literally "blooming," from florens (genitive florentis), present participle of florere "to flower" (see flourish).

The c.1700 "Dictionary of the Canting Crew" defines Florence as a slang word for "a Wench that is touz'd and ruffled." This was also the Italian city name (Roman Colonia Florentia, "flowering colony," either literal or figurative), which became Old Italian Fiorenze, in modern Italian Firenze.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
florence in Culture

Florence

City in central Italy on the Arno River.

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Note

Florence was the center of the Italian Renaissance from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, during which time the artistic and intellectual life of the city flourished. Dante, Boccaccio, Botticelli, Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo were among the authors and artists who were born and were active there.

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It was dominated by the Medici family from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries.

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The city's many works of architecture include the cathedral (see also cathedral) of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Pitti Palace, and the Uffizi.

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Florence is a tourist center known for its handicrafts.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.