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• Oklahoma
  Oklahoma

  noun

  a state in the south central United States. 69,919 square miles (181,090 square kilometers). Oklahoma City. OK (for use with zip code), Okla.
• Oklahoma!
  Oklahoma!

  A musical comedy by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It began a new era of sophistication in musical comedy and was the first of several very successful Rodgers and Hammerstein shows. “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” “Oklahoma,” and “People Will Say We're in Love” are songs from Oklahoma!

Oklahoma

American  

[oh-kluh-hoh-muh] / ˌoʊ kləˈhoʊ mə /

noun

1. a state in the south central United States. 69,919 square miles (181,090 square kilometers). Oklahoma City. OK (for use with zip code), Okla.

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Oklahoma British  

/ ˌəʊkləˈhəʊmə /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Okla..   OK.  a state in the S central US: consists of plains in the west, rising to mountains in the southwest and east; important for oil. Capital: Oklahoma City. Pop: 3 511 532 (2003 est). Area: 181 185 sq km (69 956 sq miles)

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Oklahoma! ¹ Cultural  

1. A musical comedy by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It began a new era of sophistication in musical comedy and was the first of several very successful Rodgers and Hammerstein shows. “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” “Oklahoma,” and “People Will Say We're in Love” are songs from Oklahoma!

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Oklahoma ² Cultural  

1. State in the southwestern United States, bordered by Colorado and Kansas to the north, Missouri and Arkansas to the east, Texas to the south, and New Mexico to the west. Its capital and largest city is Oklahoma City.

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Other Word Forms

• Oklahoman
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Oklahoma

First recorded in 1895–1900; from Choctaw Oklahommaʔ “Indian (i.e., North American Indian)”, equivalent to oklah “people, nation” + ommaʔ “red,” coined by the Choctaw scholar and Presbyterian minister Allen Wright (1826–85), later principal chief of the Choctaw Nation (1866–70), and originally applied to the Indian Territory; see Five Civilized Nations ( def. ), Indian Territory ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Oklahoma Oklahoma!

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded the first outbreak to include four more states — Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

Oklahoma: Clothing and shoes under $100 per item are exempt from sales tax Aug. 7-9.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

Price York plumped for the annual football showdown between Texas and Oklahoma.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

US President Donald Trump later replaced Kristi Noem as homeland security with Markwayne Mullin, a senator from Oklahoma.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

And then we went to a refugee camp in Italy where I became a great thief, until we got asylum in Oklahoma, where we try to act normal—raised-eyebrow face like you don’t believe it.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri

The musical Oklahoma! is in the air since he’s at a high school in Oklahoma that frequently puts on the show.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 8, 2020

Oklahoma!, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 7, 2019

As several of the women transition from square dancing to en pointe Darryl asks, “So now they’re randomly doing ballet?”—a reference to the dream ballets that Oklahoma! popularized.

From Slate ● Nov. 13, 2018

The reviewer for the Times wrote, “Wonderful is the nearest adjective. . . . Oklahoma! could be called a folk operetta; but whatever it is, it’s very good.”

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 5, 2018

“And Oklahoma! There’s no way I’m going to D.C. now.”

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot