highland
noun
an elevated region; plateau.
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highland
1 American
[hahy-luhnd]
/ ˈhaɪ lənd /
Highland
2
American
[hahy-luhnd]
/ ˈhaɪ lənd /
noun
-
a region in N Scotland, including a number of the Inner Hebrides. 9,710 sq. mi. (25,148 sq. km).
-
a city in NW Indiana, near Chicago.
-
British. West Highland.
Highland
1
British
/ ˈhaɪlənd /
noun
-
a council area in N Scotland, formed in 1975 (as Highland Region) from Caithness, Sutherland, Nairnshire, most of Inverness-shire, and Ross and Cromarty except for the Outer Hebrides. Administrative centre: Inverness. Pop: 209 080 (2003 est). Area: 25 149 sq km (9710 sq miles)
-
(modifier) of, relating to, or denoting the Highlands of Scotland
highland
2
British
/ ˈhaɪlənd /
noun
-
relatively high ground
-
(modifier) of or relating to a highland
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of highland
before 1000; Middle English; Old English hēahlond. See high, land
Vocabulary lists containing highland
The United States
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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:
The reader advances across Mr. McKay’s superb translation as though compelled by a fierce highland wind.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Despite that short evolutionary history, the plants have adapted to remarkably different habitats across the islands, including humid highland forests and hot, dry lowlands.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026
Interestingly, the same gene has experienced strong positive selection in central African rainforest hunter-gatherers and in highland populations of Ecuador.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 14, 2026
Whole city blocks were inundated this week in coastal Nha Trang, while deadly landslides struck highland passes around the Da Lat tourist hub.
From Barron's ● Nov. 22, 2025
Steep terrain, persistent cloud cover, malaria, and risk of drought at lower elevations confine New Guinea highland agriculture to elevations above about 4,000 feet.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Thurman has an ongoing lawsuit against Ascension Seton Williamson and the other hospital, Ascension Seton Highland Lakes, for medical malpractice.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
In Highland Park, Hayden Freedman and her partner, Kyle Smithers, walk their cat, Zephyr, up and down their quiet street, usually once a week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Golden retrievers were bred by aristocrat Sir Dudley Marjoribanks, who wanted a gun dog suited to Scottish Highland terrain.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
They’re paying more than $200 a person for semiprivate tours of the Colosseum, visiting Scottish farms where they can brush Highland cows and taking perfume-making classes in Paris.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
This time, when the Highland Gardens bus door opened, two Montgomery city policemen climbed aboard.
From "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice" by Phillip Hoose
He had passed another full layby in Glencoe valley, a particularly picturesque and popular part of the Scottish highlands that attracts large numbers of overseas tourists.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
A flatbed truck carrying a tank rolled through the highlands, making its way through fields of blossoming pink almond trees and yellow wildflowers.
From Barron's ● Mar. 18, 2026
These scarps are common in the lunar highlands and formed within the last billion years, about the most recent 20% of the Moon's history.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 18, 2026
These highlands are a strategic asset that protects the country from invasion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
The sole part of New Guinea where Europeans do not suffer from severe health problems is the highlands, above the altitudinal ceiling for malaria.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
