Offaly

American

[aw-fuh-lee, of-uh-] / ˈɔ fə li, ˈɒf ə- /

noun

a county in Leinster, in the central Republic of Ireland. 760 sq. mi. (1,970 sq. km). Tullamore.

Offaly British

/ ˈɒfəlɪ /

noun

an inland county of E central Republic of Ireland, in Leinster province: formerly an ancient kingdom, which also included parts of Tipperary, Leix, and Kildare. County town: Tullamore. Pop: 63 663 (2002). Area: 2000 sq km (770 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

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.

At Ireland's annual National Ploughing Championships in County Offaly, Mary Garvey, a 47-year-old farmer from Roscommon, told AFP: "It has to be economically sustainable to farm environmentally."

From Barron's • Nov. 11, 2025

Having completed a search of land in County Offaly on Tuesday, the search moved to the Slieve Bloom mountains in County Laois on Wednesday.

From BBC • May 28, 2025

Jozef Puska, 33, from Lynally Grove in Mucklagh, County Offaly, was found guilty at a court in Dublin last week.

From BBC • Nov. 17, 2023

And four decades after that, Barack Obama retraced the steps of a great-great-great-grandfather from Moneygall, in County Offaly, joking that the Obamas had come “to find the apostrophe that we lost somewhere along the way.”

From Seattle Times • Apr. 8, 2023

Offaly, now the name of two baronies in the county Kildare.

From Old Celtic Romances by Unknown

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023