Iowa

American  

[ahy-uh-wuh, ahy-uh-wey] / ˈaɪ ə wə, ˈaɪ əˌweɪ /

noun

• Iowas,
  plural
• Iowa
  plural

1. a state in the central United States: a part of the Midwest. 56,290 sq. mi. (145,790 sq. km). Des Moines. IA (approved esp. for use with zip code), Ia., Io.

2. a river flowing southeast from northern Iowa to the Mississippi River. 291 miles (470 km) long.

3. a member of an American Indian people originally of Iowa, Missouri, and Minnesota but now of Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Kansas.

4. the Siouan language spoken by the Iowa Indians.

---

Iowa British  

/ ˈaɪəʊə /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Ia..   IA.  a state of the N central US, in the Midwest: consists of rolling plains crossed by many rivers, with the Missouri forming the western border and the Mississippi the eastern. Capital: Des Moines. Pop: 2 944 062 (2003 est). Area: 144 887 sq km (55 941 sq miles)

---

Iowa Cultural  

1. State in the midwestern United States bordered by Minnesota to the north, Wisconsin and Illinois to the east, Missouri to the south, and Nebraska and South Dakota to the west. Its capital and largest city is Des Moines.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Iowa
  plural
• Iowas
  plural

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Iowa Iowas

New research from the University of Iowa offers a more detailed look at how this system works when people face uncertainty while making decisions.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026

Attorneys general from Iowa, Arkansas, and Missouri had sought an injunction against the EPA to stop them from ordering states to evaluate their water utilities’ cybersecurity operational technology when they conducted inspections.

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026

Chicano rock group Las Cafeteras, at the 2024 Winter Dance Party — an Iowa music festival dedicated to Valens, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper, who played their final show there in 1959.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

In addition to naming colonial-era outposts like St. Louis and Detroit, French-speaking settlers and traders gave their names to Dubuque, Iowa; Duluth, Minn.; and Pierre, S.D.; among others.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

Would I trade any of my troubles to be back in Iowa, never having known this sweet little girl and her family?

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

Other vital statistics in Forrestal's report revealed that the 45,000-ton Iowas carry 148 antiaircraft barrels, ranging from 20 mm. up to five-inch dual purpose guns.

From Time Magazine Archive

Rembert spent most of this semester preparing the remainder for a fourth try on the Iowas.

From Time Magazine Archive

Here the Sacs and Foxes roamed free; the Iowas and the tribes of the North.

From In The Boyhood of Lincoln A Tale of the Tunker Schoolmaster and the Times of Black Hawk by Hezekiah Butterworth

There were some indications of wind at the time, and accordingly the next morning we had a fine breeze, which the Iowas attributed solely to the Prophet's incantation and Eolus' love of beer.

From Views a-foot by Bayard Taylor

The type of both may still be seen in Nebraska in the grave-posts and grave-mounds by their side, of Iowas and Otoes, and formerly in all parts of the United States east of the Mississippi.

From Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines by Lewis H. Morgan