Thirteen Colonies

American  

plural noun

1. the thirteen British colonies in North America that joined together and became the United States of America after adopting the Declaration of Independence in 1776: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

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thirteen colonies Cultural  

1. The colonies that composed the original United States in 1776: Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia.

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Example Sentences

It was later captured by HMS Maidstone in 1778 while supporting the Thirteen Colonies in the American War of Independence.

From BBC • Jul. 24, 2021

The works of Shakespeare have been an integral part of the American dream since the first settlement of the Thirteen Colonies, in part through the accident of timing.

From The Guardian • Apr. 9, 2016

We are more than just a footnote in the nation’s rich and complex history, with immigrants as early as, say, the Thirteen Colonies, or as recent as the state-sanctioned guest-worker programs of the West.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 20, 2015

Compare the political leadership we are producing in this literate democratic society of some 230 million people with the leadership of the Thirteen Colonies in the late 18th century.

From Time Magazine Archive

There was rejoicing throughout the Thirteen Colonies, in the month of September 1760, when news arrived of the capitulation of Montreal.

From The War Chief of the Ottawas : A chronicle of the Pontiac war by Marquis, Thomas Guthrie