Papua
Americannoun
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Former name: British New Guinea. a former territory of Australia, consisting of SE New Guinea and adjacent islands: now part of Papua New Guinea
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Former names (until 1962): Dutch New Guinea. Netherlands New Guinea. Former Indonesian names: Irian Barat. Irian Jaya. Former English name: West Irian. the W part of the island of New Guinea: formerly under Dutch rule, becoming a province of Indonesia in 1963. Capital: Jayapura. Pop: 2 220 934 (2000). Area: 416 990 sq km (161 000 sq miles)
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an inlet of the Coral Sea in the SE coast of New Guinea
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.
To conduct the study, researchers sequenced the genomes of 177 people from 12 populations across Near Oceania, the southwestern Pacific region that includes Papua New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the Solomon Islands.
From Science Daily • Jun. 14, 2026
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a notice that tsunami waves were possible "within the next three hours" along the coasts of the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea.
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
West Papua reveals two species that we thought were extinct.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 6, 2026
The deal is seen as a strategic entry into Papua New Guinea’s energy sector through high-value, long-term infrastructure projects, it adds.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026
“Pm only acquainted with the Papua New Guinea study,” said Craig.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
