Great Lakes

American  

plural noun

1. a series of five lakes between the United States and Canada, comprising Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior; connected with the Atlantic Ocean by the St. Lawrence River.

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Great Lakes British  

plural noun

1. a group of five lakes in central North America with connecting waterways: the largest group of lakes in the world: consists of Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, which are divided by the border between the US and Canada and Lake Michigan, which is wholly in the US; constitutes the most important system of inland waterways in the world, discharging through the St Lawrence into the Atlantic. Total length: 3767 km (2340 miles). Area: 246 490 sq km (95 170 sq miles)

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Great Lakes Cultural  

1. Group of five large freshwater bodies in central North America. They include, west to east, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. Except for Lake Michigan, which is entirely within the United States, the Great Lakes serve as borders between the United States and Canada.

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Major shipping route through the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean.

Example Sentences

Refinery issues in the Great Lakes and the prairies of Canada fed into significant price increases for those two areas, including the states of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin.

From MarketWatch • May 1, 2026

This developing heatwave follows recent blizzards and frigid conditions in the Midwest and Great Lakes, along with heavy thunderstorms and tornado threats towards the East Coast.

From BBC • Mar. 17, 2026

That season, Ferris posted a 3.20 ERA across 34 starts between high-A Great Lakes and double-A Tulsa, earning minor league pitcher of the year honors from the organization.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2026

For almost two decades, the couple have set out to spear sturgeon, the biggest—and perhaps most fiercely protected—fish in the Great Lakes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026

By soon after 1000 B.C. the Bantu had emerged from the eastern side of the forest into the more open country of East Africa’s Rift Valley and Great Lakes.

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