Darien
Americannoun
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Gulf of Darien, an arm of the Caribbean between northeastern Panama and northwestern Colombia.
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Isthmus of Darien, former name of the Isthmus of Panama.
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a town in southwestern Connecticut.
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a city in northeastern Illinois.
noun
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the E part of the Isthmus of Panama, between the Gulf of Darien on the Caribbean coast and the Gulf of San Miguel on the Pacific coast; chiefly within the republic of Panama but extending also into Colombia: site of a disastrous attempt to establish a Scottish colony in 1698
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the former name of the Isthmus of Panama
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.
More recent departees often take clandestine overland routes into Colombia or Brazil or risked the dangerous journey across the Darien Gap into Central America on their way north.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 12, 2026
“Petey’s like ‘No way, my best friend from school lives in Darien, you should talk to him,’” Berard says.
From The Wall Street Journal • Aug. 13, 2025
They are now one of the top nationalities crossing the dangerous Darien Gap jungle from South to North America.
From BBC • Mar. 18, 2025
Earlier this year, McDonald’s sparked a national debate after a restaurant location in Darien, Connecticut, charged an astounding $18 for a Big Mac combo meal.
From Salon • Jun. 1, 2024
Communication between southern Mexico and the Andes required either a sea voyage or else a long chain of overland contacts via the narrow, forested, never urbanized Isthmus of Darien.
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.
