regional
Americanadjective
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of or relating to a region of considerable extent; not merely local.
a regional meeting of the Boy Scouts.
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of or relating to a particular region, district, area, or part, as of a country; sectional; local.
regional differences in pronunciation.
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Medicine/Medical, Anatomy. pertaining to, affecting, or localized in a particular area or part of the body.
regional anesthesia.
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having, exhibiting, or characterized by regionalism.
He writes regional novels.
noun
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Often regionals. a regional competition or tournament.
The basketball team won the regionals.
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a regional company, branch, stock exchange, etc..
Regionals are getting stiff competition from the national firms.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of regional
From the Latin word regiōnālis, dating back to 1645–55. See region, -al 1
Explanation
Regional is bigger than local and smaller than national. The local weather forecast covers your city and perhaps a few suburbs; the regional forecast gives you more: maybe a slew of counties, maybe the whole state, maybe even several states. People who write dictionaries like to think of regional as being a precise term, having to do with well-defined geographic and cultural areas within larger nations: like regional cuisines, regional customs and even, in places like the Great Lakes, regional weather patterns. But lots of times regional is fuzzier than that. A regional high school has students from more than one town, but just how many towns depends on other factors — the local political structure, the number of kids in the area, and the like.
Vocabulary lists containing regional
Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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The Syrian Refugee Crisis Continues
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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.
“You can’t control where you’re going, as far as the regional, but you could have controlled playing better baseball in those moments,” Stankiewicz said.
From Los Angeles Times • May 25, 2026
Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said it was very unlikely Trump's appeal would succeed, partly because of regional rivalries between nations.
From Barron's • May 25, 2026
PDT to start the regional on SEC Network.
From Los Angeles Times • May 25, 2026
The White House also sought caps on Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for regional militant groups—issues of importance to Israel and America’s Middle Eastern partners.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 23, 2026
Throughout the year, thousands of Muslims attend regional and national conventions throughout North America.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
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.
