North America

American  

noun

1. the northern continent of the Western Hemisphere, extending from Central America to the Arctic Ocean. Highest point, Denali, 20,300 feet (6,187 meters); lowest, Death Valley, 276 feet (84 meters) below sea level. About 9,360,000 square miles (24,242,400 square kilometers).

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North America British  

noun

1. the third largest continent, linked with South America by the Isthmus of Panama and bordering on the Arctic Ocean, the N Pacific, the N Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean. It consists generally of a great mountain system (the Western Cordillera) extending along the entire W coast, actively volcanic in the extreme north and south, with the Great Plains to the east and the Appalachians still further east, separated from the Canadian Shield by an arc of large lakes (Great Bear, Great Slave, Winnipeg, Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario); reaches its greatest height of 6194 m (20 320 ft) in Mount McKinley, Alaska, and its lowest point of 85 m (280 ft) below sea level in Death Valley, California, and ranges from snowfields, tundra, and taiga in the north to deserts in the southwest and tropical forests in the extreme south. Pop: 332 156 000 (2005 est). Area: over 24 000 000 sq km (9 500 000 sq miles)

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North America Cultural  

1. Third-largest continent (after Asia and Africa), comprising Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Central America.

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Other Word Forms

• North American adjective

Etymology

Origin of North America

First recorded in 1680–90

Example Sentences

The fertilizer price increase comes at a critical time in the growing season for farmers in North America and Europe, and lower use could weigh on crop yields, Holsether said.

From The Wall Street Journal

Kraft Heinz’s former CEO, Carlos Abrams-Rivera, and its board decided last summer that the best path was to split the company, separating its global condiments and North America grocery businesses.

From The Wall Street Journal

At a time major league owners would like you to believe market size equals destiny, the team with baseball’s longest postseason drought plays in the second-largest market in North America.

From Los Angeles Times

“We provide all the supporting systems to develop them, coach them and then give them different assignments,” said Annie Huang, senior vice president for human resources for P&G in North America.

From The Wall Street Journal

Bank of Montreal, which ranks as one of the largest banks in North America by assets, said it is expanding use cases for accessing tokenized cash.

From The Wall Street Journal