heartland
Americannoun
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heartlands
plural
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the part of a region considered essential to the viability and survival of the whole, especially a central land area relatively invulnerable to attack and capable of economic and political self-sufficiency.
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any central area, as of a state, nation, or continent.
a vineyard in California's heartland.
noun
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the central region of a country or continent
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the core or most vital area
the industrial heartland of England
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of heartland
Vocabulary lists containing heartland
Political Geography - Middle School
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Political Geography - High School
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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.
See Examples For:
Together, the evidence points toward potters who migrated from the Mississippian heartland and brought both their technical knowledge and materials with them.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
Brazil’s booming agribusiness sector, fueled by soaring Chinese demand for Brazilian soybeans, beef and other commodities, has also given greater economic and political clout to the country’s conservative farming heartland.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Although the surrounding clay in the vessels came from Tampa Bay, some of the crushed material mixed into it appears to have originated farther north in the Mississippian heartland.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
The waterway, which flows through the industrial heartland of Germany, has been at record lows since late July when Europe was struggling through a series of heatwaves.
From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026
Like the landscapes of Cahokia and the Maya heartland, some anthropologists say, the great Amazon forest is also a cultural artifact—that is, an artificial object.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
From villages deep in the Amazon rainforest to the agricultural heartlands in the south and sprawling urban favelas, Brazilians are facing a familiar cast -- with many forced to pick who they least dislike.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
Organisers will require a hefty budget to secure top-end talent and venues, while also marketing a brand-new event outside of rugby's usual heartlands.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
In Germany’s industrial heartlands, companies are cutting production and struggling to ship goods along the Rhine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
The French president is also eager for Sharaa to maintain his pledge to protect Syria's minorities, after sectarian bloodshed in its Alawite and Druze heartlands last year.
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
He traveled across the country, including to Hungary’s traditionally Fidesz-friendly heartlands where few of Orbán’s challengers had ever gone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026
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.
