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• southern
  southern

  adjective

  lying toward, situated in, or directed toward the south.
• Southern
  Southern

  noun

  Terry, 1924–95, U.S. novelist and screenwriter.

southern

¹ American  

[suhth-ern] / ˈsʌð ərn /

adjective

1. lying toward, situated in, or directed toward the south.

2. coming from the south, as a wind.

3. of or relating to the south.

4. Southern, of or relating to the South of the United States.

5. Astronomy. Southern, being or located south of the celestial equator or of the zodiac.

   a southern constellation.

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noun

1. Often Southern southerner.

2. Southern, the dialect of English spoken in the eastern parts of Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, in Florida, in the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and in southeastern Texas.

Southern ² American  

[suhth-ern] / ˈsʌð ərn /

noun

1. Terry, 1924–95, U.S. novelist and screenwriter.

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southern ¹ British  

/ ˈsʌðən /

adjective

1. situated in or towards the south

2. (of a wind, etc) coming from the south

3. native to, inhabiting, or growing in the south

4. (sometimes capital) astronomy south of the celestial equator

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Southern ² British  

/ ˈsʌðən /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the south of a particular region or country

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Etymology

Origin of southern

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English sūtherne; see south, -ern

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Explanation

Southern means from the south, like a southern breeze. But if you call a group of people “y’all,” you might be Southern, a word which refers to the American South and usually gets a capital “S” — and a side of hush puppies. A southern breeze happens when wind is moving from the south to the north, and the Southern Hemisphere is south of the equator. When southern refers to the direction, it’s not capitalized; when it's used in the name of specific place, however, it is capitalized. Southern comes from south, which derives from a Germanic word meaning "sun-side."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

southern Southern

When the first coyote was photographed on the southern end of the crossing last week, a steep dropoff between its two overpasses made it impossible to get to the other side.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

Given how belligerent Canada’s southern neighbor has been lately, it feels defiant now too.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

US First Lady Melania Trump called for a "more enduring" ceasefire in Ukraine as she welcomed Russian and Ukrainian delegations at the White House following last week's truce in the southern region of Kherson.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

Mr. Miller points to India’s success in cellphone assembly in the southern state of Tamil Nadu as a template: “You shouldn’t start with the hardest problem, which is advanced manufacturing.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026

It stated that these nations would hand over their land in what is now southern Indiana in exchange for a yearly payment.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

The Southern Taurids peak around November 5, followed by the Northern Taurids around November 12.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2026

A spokesman for the Southern Trust told BBC News NI it has no plans to withdraw Phone First.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

“There’s no 100% security measure,” said Erroll Southers, a professor at the University of Southern California who was assistant chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence at Los Angeles’s international airport authority.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

The first opportunities come from the Southern and Northern Taurids, two related meteor showers that reach their highest activity levels about a week apart.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2026

While Southern whites—poor and rich alike—were utterly outraged by emancipation, there was no obvious solution to the dilemma they faced.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

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