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• southerner
  southerner

  noun

  a native or inhabitant of the south.
• Southerner
  Southerner

  noun

  (sometimes not capital) a native or inhabitant of the south of any specified region, esp the South of England or the Southern states of the US

southerner

American  

[suhth-er-ner] / ˈsʌð ər nər /

noun

1. a native or inhabitant of the south.

2. (initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of the southern U.S.

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Southerner British  

/ ˈsʌðənə /

noun

1. (sometimes not capital) a native or inhabitant of the south of any specified region, esp the South of England or the Southern states of the US

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Etymology

Origin of southerner

First recorded in 1820–30; southern + -er ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

southerner Southerner

The mustached southerner, yachting enthusiast and philanthropist, whose empire also included sports clubs, had been suffering from the degenerative disease Lewy Body Dementia.

From Barron's ● May 6, 2026

A native southerner, Chelsey graduated from the University of North Carolina in 2014.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026

Yet he stood firm and loud in his defiance and the wind of multi-party change sweeping across Africa became a reality for President Biya, a southerner who had been in power since 1982.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2023

“This is what is emerging,” said Angelo Tofalo, himself a southerner and a leader in the party, as he cheered Mr. Conte, at a rally in Rome on Friday.

From New York Times ● Sep. 25, 2022

Senate, learned this in 2002 after making a toast at a one hundredth birthday party for Strom Thurmond, his fellow senator and fellow southerner.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

Covering not just movies and television but also theater and cabaret, Reed, a Southerner who seemed as much a part of Manhattan as the skyline, lorded over the arts with a homogenizing mainstream peremptoriness.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026

He could come across as a Californian, a Texan, or a Southerner, though he also trained on the New York stage and had no difficulty portraying a New York network executive in “Network.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026

Bibi Hutchings, a lifelong Southerner, lives along a quiet coastal Alabama bay with her cat, Zulu, and husband, Tom.

From Salon ● May 10, 2025

He loves incorporating greens and, as a Southerner, grits.

From Salon ● Feb. 22, 2025

He remembered suddenly a conversation with a Southerner a long time ago, before the war, a Baptist minister.

From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara