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• silesia
  silesia

  noun

  a lightweight, smoothly finished, twilled fabric of acetate, rayon, or cotton, for garment linings.
• Silesia
  Silesia

  noun

  a region in central Europe along both banks of the upper Oder River, mainly in SW Poland and the N Czech Republic: formerly divided between Germany (which had the largest portion), Poland, and Czechoslovakia; by provision of the Potsdam agreement 1945, the greater part of German Silesia came under Polish administration; rich deposits of coal, iron, and other minerals.

silesia

¹ American  

[si-lee-zhuh, -shuh, sahy-] / sɪˈli ʒə, -ʃə, saɪ- /

noun

1. a lightweight, smoothly finished, twilled fabric of acetate, rayon, or cotton, for garment linings.

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Silesia ² American  

[si-lee-zhuh, -shuh, sahy-] / sɪˈli ʒə, -ʃə, saɪ- /

noun

1. a region in central Europe along both banks of the upper Oder River, mainly in SW Poland and the N Czech Republic: formerly divided between Germany (which had the largest portion), Poland, and Czechoslovakia; by provision of the Potsdam agreement 1945, the greater part of German Silesia came under Polish administration; rich deposits of coal, iron, and other minerals.

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Silesia ¹ British  

/ saɪˈliːʃɪə /

noun

1. German name: Schlesien.  Czech name: Slezsko.  Polish name: Śląsk.  a region of central Europe around the upper and middle Oder valley: mostly annexed by Prussia in 1742 but became almost wholly Polish in 1945; rich coal and iron-ore deposits

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silesia ² British  

/ saɪˈliːʃɪə /

noun

1. a twill-weave fabric of cotton or other fibre, used esp for pockets, linings, etc

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Other Word Forms

• Silesian
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of silesia

First recorded in 1665–70; named after Silesia

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

silesia Silesia

“Yes, I want some twilled silesia, a paper of number nine needles, and two yards of narrow lavender ribbon. Have you got your thick boots on, and something warm under your cloak?”

From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

The doorway framed an undersized, obese old man who wore a skullcap of black silesia.

From Sacrifice by Stephen French Whitman

The other is to make a list of articles before you leave home, something like this: Nine yards of merino for gown; three yards of silesia; two spools of cotton, Nos.

From Holiday Stories for Young People by Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

Silk, of course, is the ideal material; but its costliness puts it beyond ordinary means, and common silesia, such as is used in dress linings, is almost as good.

From McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 4, March, 1896 by Various

Yes, I want some twilled silesia, a paper of number nine needles, and two yards of narrow lavender ribbon.

From Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

It's a far cry from basin depths in Silesia -- a historic coal mining region in southern Poland where he still extracts the ore.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

Soon after his father’s death in 1740, Frederick demonstrated his aptitude for warfare when he invaded and won the Austrian province of Silesia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026

First published in 1998, this early gem from Nobel Prize winner Tokarczuk takes place in Silesia, a region of Poland close to the Czech Republic and influenced by its Bohemian culture.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025

The displaced Poles were in turn resettled in Silesia, a region on the border of Czechoslovakia that had formerly belonged to Germany.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025

At age twenty-six, Virchow wrote passionately that terrible social conditions in an impoverished part of Germany called Upper Silesia were the cause of a malaria and dysentery epidemic.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French