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• Midwestern
  Midwestern

  adjective

  of or relating to the Midwest.
• midwestern
  midwestern

  adjective

  of or relating to the Midwest of the US or its inhabitants

Midwestern

American  

[mid-wes-tern] / ˌmɪdˈwɛs tərn /

Rarely Middle Western

adjective

1. of or relating to the Midwest.

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midwestern British  

/ ˈmɪdˈwɛstən /

adjective

1. of or relating to the Midwest of the US or its inhabitants

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Usage

What does Midwestern mean? Midwestern is an adjective used to describe the region known as the Midwest—the northern central area of the mainland United States. Generally, the boundaries of the Midwestern region are Canada to the north, the Rocky Mountains to the west, the southern borders of Missouri and Kansas to the south, and the Allegheny Mountains to the east. Sometimes the Midwest is thought of as extending to the eastern border of Illinois or Ohio. The Midwest is one of the United States’ four official regions as defined by the U. S. Census Bureau. Because the Census Bureau doesn’t divide states when defining regions, it sets Ohio as the Midwest’s eastern border. According to the Census, 12 states are located within the Midwest: Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Americans themselves often differ in terms of which states they consider to be Midwestern. Sometimes, states on the fringes, such as Ohio or North Dakota, aren’t considered to be a part of the Midwest. The word Midwestern is commonly used to describe the region and states in that region, but it can also describe the people who live there or things about them, as in Midwestern values. A person from the Midwest can be called a Midwesterner. Example: I always love to travel to the central United States to see the beautiful scenery of the Midwestern states.

Etymology

Origin of Midwestern

An Americanism first recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Midwestern midwestern

But in a Midwestern city like St. Louis, prices over that time period have only gone up about 6% when adjusted for inflation.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026

It didn’t occur to him that Braham, a rural Midwestern town of 1,800 people best known as the “Homemade Pie Capital of Minnesota,” could be caught up in a possible foreign cyberattack.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

Officials say they’re also investigating outbreaks and illnesses of the parasitic disease across 34 Midwestern and Eastern states that are unrelated to this outbreak.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

That likely includes Taco Bell—which has now “voluntarily and temporarily” removed some unnamed ingredients from restaurants located within various Midwestern and Appalachian states—but none of this is a mere consequence of living más.

From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026

Midwestern newspapers reprinted the blasts of Wendell Phillips in the East, and of Editor Horace Greeley, who asked rhetorically if this man Lincoln was the sole hope of the Republican Party.

From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt

Extreme heat warnings in the midwestern states of Wisconsin and Minnesota are expected to expire by Thursday night.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

Tornados struck the midwestern US state of Michigan on Friday, killing four people and injuring at least a dozen others, US media reported.

From Barron's ● Mar. 7, 2026

Striking workers in the midwestern states of Missouri and Illinois had walked off the job on August 4.

From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2025

Walz is a high-school teacher turned politician with a penchant for folksy midwestern humour.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2024

These midwestern programs have been conducted in a spirit of crisis, as though the advance of the beetle presented an extreme peril justifying any means to combat it.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson