Pacific Northwest

American  

[puh-sif-ik nawrth-west] / pəˈsɪf ɪk ˌnɔrθˈwɛst /

noun

1. an imprecisely defined region of North America that is commonly held to include the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and the Canadian province of British Columbia, with some designations extending the region south into northern California and/or north into Alaska and Yukon: often considered as much a historical, sociocultural region as a geographical one. PNW

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Pacific Northwest British  

noun

1. the region of North America lying north of the Columbia River and west of the Rockies

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Example Sentences

The actress recently made her migration to the Pacific Northwest permanent with the purchase of a home near the Canadian set of her hit CBS drama.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 7, 2026

"We didn't quite know the value of the western part of the US, or the Pacific Northwest, but we thought it was there," he said.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

Los Angeles’ own Music Center, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Opera and numerous other performance houses promoted discounted tickets to upcoming shows with promo codes referencing the actor.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2026

The boys, ages 23 and 16, one dangerously undernourished and both claiming to have been raised “off the grid” in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, showed up in town and immediately caused a rift.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 2026

Our opposition was a club team from Southern California called the Pumas that had come up on tour to play against teams in the Pacific Northwest, where everyone knows we play a tougher game.

From "Winger" by Andrew Smith