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Nova Scotia

American  
[noh-vuh skoh-shuh] / ˈnoʊ və ˈskoʊ ʃə /

noun

  1. a peninsula and province in SE Canada: once a part of the French province of Acadia. 21,068 sq. mi. (54,565 sq. km). Halifax.

  2. Informal. Nova Scotia salmon.

Nova Scotia British  
/ ˈnəʊvə ˈskəʊʃə /

noun

  1. a peninsula in E Canada, between the Gulf of St Lawrence and the Bay of Fundy

  2. a province of E Canada, consisting of the Nova Scotia peninsula and Cape Breton Island: first settled by the French as Acadia. Capital: Halifax. Pop: 936 960 (2004 est). Area: 52 841 sq km (20 402 sq miles)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Nova Scotia Cultural  

  1. Province in eastern Canada, including a peninsula to the east of New Brunswick and Cape Breton Island, as well as several smaller adjacent islands. With New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia makes up the Maritime Provinces. Halifax is its capital and largest city.

Discover More

French settlers, who called the area Acadia, were expelled by the British in the 1750s. Many of the exiled Acadians settled in Louisiana and became the ancestors of today's Cajuns.

Other Word Forms

  • Nova Scotian adjective

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.

Two other Conservative MPs, Chris d'Entremont of Nova Scotia and Michael Ma of Ontario, had crossed the floor late last year to join Carney's government.

From BBC • Mar. 11, 2026

"Nova Scotia has the highest tides in the world -- when we're working there, we're racing against the tide, when the ocean comes back in," says Mann.

From Science Daily • Feb. 11, 2026

Bank of Nova Scotia has its sights on strong earnings growth in the coming year despite the lingering uncertainty brought on by U.S. trade policy, with capital and liquidity measures expected to remain solid.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 2, 2025

One option that has surfaced is a proposed whale sanctuary off Canada's Atlantic coast, in Nova Scotia province.

From Barron's • Nov. 26, 2025

And he rows all the way from the Grand Banks, off Nova Scotia, to Gloucester, Massachusetts.

From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick

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.