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.

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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)

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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.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Iowa
  plural
• Iowas
  plural

Example Sentences

Nearby, Iowa state congressman Eddie Andrews was hanging off the back of a farm tractor draped with stars-and-stripes livery, shouting "God bless America!" at the top of his lungs to crowds headed toward the Mall.

From Barron's • Jul. 4, 2026

The complaint, filed in Iowa federal court, described a yearslong effort by a handful of major egg producers to manipulate a little-known process that helps determine what Americans pay for eggs.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 1, 2026

The second thing to note is that six U.S. states — Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — levy a state inheritance tax.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 17, 2026

In the case of a global pandemic “where the whole population gets infected, basically you have a denominator of 7 billion people,” said Dr. Stanley Perlman, a University of Iowa microbiologist who studies coronaviruses.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 15, 2026

It is headed for, of all places, Manson, Iowa.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson