Midwestern

American  

[mid-wes-tern] / ˌmɪdˈwɛs tərn /

Rarely Middle Western

adjective

1. of or relating to the Midwest.

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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

Operations at airports in the South may not be as fine-tuned for severe winter weather as Northern and Midwestern airports, in terms of both available equipment and know-how.

From MarketWatch

Operations at airports in the South may not be as fine-tuned for severe winter weather as Northern and Midwestern airports, in terms of both available equipment and know-how.

From MarketWatch

Now, in this frozen tundra of a city, in a state best known for its enduring Midwestern niceness, residents of Minnesota are doubling down.

From Slate

It’s the kind of Midwestern city that rewards lingering — where the food scene punches far above its weight, strangers are genuinely kind, and nature quietly weaves its way through downtown life.

From Salon

In the early 1990s, the FBI linked him to valuable art inventories known as catalogue raisonnés that had been stolen from Midwestern libraries.

From The Wall Street Journal