inland
Americanadjective
-
pertaining to or situated in the interior part of a country or region.
inland cities.
-
British. domestic or internal.
inland revenue.
adverb
noun
adjective
-
of, concerning, or located in the interior of a country or region away from a sea or border
-
operating within a country or region; domestic; not foreign
noun
adverb
Other Word Forms
- inlander noun
Etymology
Origin of inland
Explanation
Inland means far away from the ocean, or in the very middle of a country. If you were born and grew up in Kansas, you're familiar with inland living. The opposite of inland is coastal. When you travel to the rocky coast of Maine or the soft sandy beaches of Florida, you're far from being inland — you return to your inland home town when you fly back to Gary, Indiana. Inland comes from the Old English inn lond, "land around the mansion of an estate," and it began to mean "land far from the coast" in the 16th century.
Vocabulary lists containing inland
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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 tidal Scheldt river estuary is the main maritime access route to Antwerp port, along with several narrower canals primarily used for inland navigation.
From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026
The Salton Sea — California’s largest inland lake at more than 340 square miles — has been shrinking for decades.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026
This includes several separate strikes on the key Baltic Sea ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk as well as an attack on the nearby inland Kirishi oil refinery.
From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026
Up to 250,000 barrels per day of oil-demand losses are possible in April if inland stocks are low, they said.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 26, 2026
The high waters along the shoreline had caused some of the animals to migrate inland, deep into the Amazonian rain forest.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
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.
