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

Country music legend Sheryl Crow is offloading a small slice of her extravagant Nashville estate for $1.8 million—more than a decade after adding the 2.2-acre parcel to her longtime Tennessee compound.

From MarketWatch • May 18, 2026

Major brands featured in “The Breadwinner” include Toyota, Walmart and the Tennessee Titans with significant roles in the plot.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026

The first one went to the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federally controlled utility, and Holtec, a privately held nuclear operator that’s building small reactors.

From Barron's • May 14, 2026

The states that improved reading scores — Louisiana, Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana — had one thing in common: They ordered schools to teach with a phonics-based approach known as the “science of reading.”

From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026

Tennessee and upheld the rights of states to present evidence about the character of the victim in a capital sentencing trial.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson