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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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.
If the Bruins advance, they will host a super regional against the winner of the Morgantown Regional hosted by West Virginia.
From Los Angeles Times • May 25, 2026
Regional labour department director Geraldine Panlilio said she had briefly shut the project down in September 2024 over violations of occupational safety standards.
From Barron's • May 25, 2026
Located in the city center, the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theater became a makeshift bomb shelter in the immediate days after the invasion, housing up to 1,500 Mariupoltsi pursuing refuge.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026
Chris Cate, president and chief executive of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the project is going through the group’s review process but it has supported it thus far.
From Los Angeles Times • May 17, 2026
The day after his release, Kathy and Adnan took Zeitoun to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, where the doctors found no major injuries.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
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.
