Missouri

American  

[mi-zoor-ee, -zoor-uh] / mɪˈzʊər i, -ˈzʊər ə /

noun

• Missouris,
  plural
• Missouri
  plural

1. a state in the central United States. 69,674 sq. mi. (180,455 sq. km). Jefferson City. MO (for use with zip code), Mo.

2. a river flowing from SW Montana into the Mississippi N of St. Louis, Mo. 2,723 miles (4,382 km) long.

3. a member of a North American Indian tribe belonging to the Siouan linguistic stock, located on the Missouri River in early historic times and now extinct as a tribe.

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idioms

1. from Missouri, unwilling to accept something without proof; skeptical.

   I'm from Missouri—you'll have to show me that you're right.

Missouri British  

/ mɪˈzʊərɪ /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Mo.   MO.  a state of the central US: consists of rolling prairies in the north, the Ozark Mountains in the south, and part of the Mississippi flood plain in the southeast, with the Mississippi forming the E border; chief US producer of lead and barytes. Capital: Jefferson City. Pop: 5 704 484 (2003 est). Area: 178 699 sq km (68 995 sq miles)

2. a river in the W and central US, rising in SW Montana: flows north, east, and southeast to join the Mississippi above St Louis; the longest river in North America; chief tributary of the Mississippi. Length: 3970 km (2466 miles)

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Missouri Cultural  

1. State in the central United States bordered by Iowa to the north; Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee to the east; Arkansas to the south; and Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska to the west. Its capital is Jefferson City, and its largest city is St. Louis.

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Missouri More Idioms  

1. see from Missouri.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Missourian
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Missouri
  plural
• Missouris
  plural

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Missouri Missouris

Born May 24, 1940, in Missouri and raised in Illinois and Minnesota, Cannom graduated from DePauw University in 1962.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026

St. Louis was the second-largest city in Missouri as of 2025, behind Kansas City, according to the U.S.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026

The researchers propose that this ancient escarpment crossed areas that today include Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026

He did his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, and served for over six years, including a year at Camp Carroll in South Korea.

From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026

The capital of Missouri is Jefferson City, I drilled in my head in case I’d get geography.

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck

Exactly what Lindell has been doing in "your Missouris" and "Alabamas" is unclear.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2021

We also sent small presents to the Ottoes and Missouris, and requested that they would join us at the Maha village, where a peace might be concluded between them.

From History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. I. To the Sources of the Missouri, Thence Across the Rocky Mountains and Down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Performed During the Years 1804-5-6. by Paul Allen

They received with due ceremony, in the little camp they had formed on their arrival, the calumet which the great chief of the Missouris presented to the Spanish commander.

From The old Santa Fe trail The Story of a Great Highway by Buffalo Bill

From there in 1724 he went up the river among the Otos and Iowas, and then southwest to the Padoucas in Western Kansas, taking with him Missouris, Osages, Kansas, Otos, and Iowas.

From The Colonization of North America 1492-1783 by Herbert Eugene Bolton

Here, on August 2d, appeared a small band of Otoes and Missouris, with a Frenchman who resided among them.

From Lewis and Clark Meriwether Lewis and William Clark by William R. (William Rheem) Lighton