Greenland

[green-luhnd, -land]

noun

1. a self-governing island belonging to Denmark, located NE of North America: the largest island in the world. About 844,000 sq. mi. (2,186,000 sq. km); about 700,000 sq. mi. (1,800,000 sq. km) icecapped. Godthåb.

Greenland

/ ˈɡriːnlənd /

noun

1. Danish name: Grønland. Greenlandic name: Kalaallit Nunaat. a large island, lying mostly within the Arctic Circle off the NE coast of North America: first settled by Icelanders in 986; resettled by Danes from 1721 onwards; integral part of Denmark (1953–79); granted internal autonomy 1979; mostly covered by an icecap up to 3300 m (11 000 ft) thick, with ice-free coastal strips and coastal mountains; the population is largely Inuit, with a European minority; fishing, hunting, and mining. Capital: Nuuk (Godthåb). Pop: 57 714 (2013 est). Area: 175 600 sq km (840 000 sq miles)

Greenland

1. Island lying largely within the Arctic Circle; owned by Denmark but governed locally since 1978. Its native name is Kaballit Nunaat.

Greenland is the largest island in the world. (Australia is larger but is officially a continent, not an island.)

Other Word Forms

• Greenlander noun
• Greenlandish adjective

Example Sentences

This natural event is a major contributor to the rapid reduction of ice on the Greenland ice sheet.

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Non-Danish citizens and foreign companies will only be allowed to buy property or land-use rights if they have been permanent residents and paid all their taxes in Greenland for the previous two years.

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Thanks to kilometres of ice core samples taken from the Greenland and Antarctic icecaps, we know that the climate has never been as warm as it is now for 800,000 years.

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Sixty B-52s, loaded with hydrogen bombs, circled the outside edges of the Soviet Union—above the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland, above the Mediterranean Sea, above the western coast of Alaska.

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The pair had a test run last year, when they travelled 1,500 kilometres on kite skis in Greenland for a month in June/July, collecting ice samples.

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