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.

---

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)

---

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.

---

Discover More

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

Example Sentences

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

"That is interesting because we do know that the lakes are changing with climate change," said Den Uyl, a scientist at U-M's Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, or CIGLR.

From Science Daily • Dec. 2, 2025

Across the Great Lakes, Ojibwe and Menomini worked lumber camps.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025

Record-cold temperatures and heavy snow have also hit the Great Lakes region in the Midwest, adding to the delays.

From BBC • Nov. 11, 2025

After two months of searching, Milton was down to his last real estate agent, a Miss Jane Marsh of Great Lakes Realty.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides