Tennessee

American  

[ten-uh-see] / ˌtɛn əˈsi /

noun

1. a state in the southeastern United States. 42,246 sq. mi. (109,415 sq. km). Nashville. TN (for use with zip code), Tenn.

2. a river flowing from eastern Tennessee through northern Alabama, western Tennessee, and southwestern Kentucky into the Ohio near Paducah. 652 miles (1,050 km) long.

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Tennessee British  

/ ˌtɛnɪˈsiː /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Tenn.   TN.  a state of the E central US: consists of a plain in the west, rising to the Appalachians and the Cumberland Plateau in the east. Capital: Nashville. Pop: 5 841 748 (2003 est). Area: 109 412 sq km (42 244 sq miles)

2. a river in the E central US, flowing southwest from E Tennessee into N Alabama, then west and north to the Ohio River at Paducah: the longest tributary of the Ohio; includes a series of dams and reservoirs under the Tennessee Valley Authority. Length: 1049 km (652 miles)

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Tennessee Cultural  

1. State in the south-central United States bordered by Kentucky and Virginia to the north; North Carolina to the east; Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south; and Arkansas and Missouri to the west. Its capital is Nashville, and its largest city is Memphis.

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One of the Confederate states during the Civil War.

Example Sentences

In Middle Tennessee, tilling dirt was her role in fighting the Germans and Japanese.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

The US Army is investigating an incident in which two Apache attack helicopters flew near the Tennessee home of musician Kid Rock, an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, a military spokesman said Tuesday.

From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026

“Don’t worry about Easter – going home. In fact, make this one for Jesus, okay? Make this one for Jesus, that’s what I tell them,” he said at an event in Memphis, Tennessee on Monday.

From Salon • Mar. 23, 2026

The 47-year-old Tony Vitello comes on board after coaching the Tennessee Volunteers for the past eight seasons.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 23, 2026

In 1870, Victoria Woodhull and her sister Tennessee Claflin used the money they had made on Wall Street to publish the newspaper Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling