heartland
Americannoun
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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
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.
“The projects we incentivize have to fit this heartland, middle America approach to things,” says Tennessee deputy governor Stuart McWhorter.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
During his 2005 confirmation hearings to become chief justice, Roberts described an idyllic heartland childhood lifted from a John Cougar Mellencamp song, all “endless fields” that were “punctuated by an isolated silo or a barn.”
From Slate • May 7, 2026
That cautious approach, Parrot says, is rooted in the club's role as the standard-bearer for a former mining heartland.
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
Southern Lebanon is the heartland of Lebanon's Shia Muslim community, Hezbollah's main support base.
From BBC • Mar. 17, 2026
By the statue hangs a faded banner: Bolivia Mar. When Bolivia declared its independence it had a territorial pseudopod that extended southwest from its Andean heartland through the Atacama Desert to the sea.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
