peninsula
[puh-nin-suh-luh, -nins-yuh-luh]
- an area of land almost completely surrounded by water except for an isthmus connecting it with the mainland.
- the Peninsula,
- Spain and Portugal together; Iberian Peninsula; Iberia.
- a district in SE Virginia between the York and James rivers: Civil War battles.
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Origin of peninsula
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for peninsula
Contemporary Examples
KIEV, Ukraine—He took the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea with just a few shots fired.
In point of fact, the good times have not yet started to roll in the Black Sea peninsula.
On one side of the silver medallion is a raised image of the outline of the Crimean peninsula.
The snap referendum was held two weeks after Russian forces seized the peninsula and blockaded Ukrainian soldiers in their bases.
The peninsula had been transferred for administrative reasons from Russia to Ukraine in 1954.
Historical Examples
They were on a peninsula, as it were, while the soldiers were securing the isthmus.
The Story of the Malakand Field ForceSir Winston S. Churchill
On them were engraved in gilt letters, "The Peninsula" and "Waterloo."
The Autobiography of Sergeant William LawrenceWilliam Lawrence
Diarrhœa and dysentery were already sending many of them from the Peninsula.
With Manchesters in the EastGerald B. Hurst
The Division remained on the Peninsula until the 29th December.
With Manchesters in the EastGerald B. Hurst
The war with the Turks on the Peninsula became purely a war of tactics.
With Manchesters in the EastGerald B. Hurst
peninsula
- a narrow strip of land projecting into a sea or lake from the mainland
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin, literally: almost an island, from paene pene- + insula island
usage
The noun peninsula is sometimes confused with the adjective peninsular: the Iberian peninsula (not peninsular)
Peninsula
- the Peninsula short for the Iberian Peninsula
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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
Word Origin and History for peninsula
n.
1530s, from Latin pæninsula "a peninsula," literally "almost an island," from pæne "almost" + insula "island" (see isle). Earlier translated as demie island.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
peninsula
[pə-nĭn′syə-lə]
- A piece of land that projects into a body of water and is connected with a larger landmass.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
peninsula
A body of land enclosed on three sides by water, jutting out from a larger body of land.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.