Oregon

American  

[awr-i-guhn, ‑-gon, or‑] / ˈɔr ɪ gən, ‑ˌgɒn, ˈɒr‑ /

noun

1. a state in the northwestern United States, on the Pacific coast. 96,981 square miles (251,180 square kilometers). Salem. OR (for use with zip code), Oreg., Ore.

2. a city in northwestern Ohio.

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Oregon British  

/ ˈɒrɪɡən /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Oreg..   OR.  a state of the northwestern US, on the Pacific: consists of the Coast and Cascade Ranges in the west and a plateau in the east; important timber production. Capital: Salem. Pop: 3 559 596 (2003 est). Area: 251 418 sq km (97 073 sq miles)

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Oregon Cultural  

1. State in the northwestern United States bordered by Washington to the north, Idaho to the east, Nevada and California to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Its capital is Salem, and its largest city is Portland.

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Discover More

Before the coming of the railroads, the Oregon Trail was used as an overland emigration route from the Missouri River to the Columbia River country (all of which was then called Oregon).

Other Word Forms

• Oregonian
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Oregon

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Oregon

That helps explain why a shallower Juan de Fuca slab beneath northern Oregon could increase peak ground shaking in populated areas.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026

Northern Oregon experiences relatively little seismic activity compared with western Washington and northern California, leaving researchers with fewer earthquakes to use when studying the buried slab and the way seismic waves move through the region.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026

That’s when they face a rematch against No. 2 Oregon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

The following year, Riverside County cold-case homicide investigators paid Jesperson a visit at the Oregon State Penitentiary to interview him about “Claudia” in hopes of generating new leads.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

Okay, so another weird thing about Oregon: green lightning.

From "Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat" by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth