Great Smoky Mountains

American  

plural noun

1. a range of the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee; most of the range is included in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 720 square miles (1,865 square kilometers). Highest peak, Clingman's Dome, 6,642 feet (2,024 meters).

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Great Smoky Mountains British  

plural noun

1. the W part of the Appalachians, in W North Carolina and E Tennessee. Highest peak: Clingman's Dome, 2024 m (6642 ft)

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Great Smoky Mountains Cultural  

1. Part of the Appalachian Mountains on the border between North Carolina and Tennessee.

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles the crest of the Smokies. The Appalachian Trail follows the crest of the mountains.

Named after the smokelike haze that envelops them.

Etymology

Origin of Great Smoky Mountains

First recorded in 1840–45

Example Sentences

The number of visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2025, making it the busiest park, the National Park Service reported this week.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

The book, which is equal parts entertaining and incisive, charts how the “I Will Always Love You” singer was born in a family of 12 children at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026

Born into crushing poverty in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, her father paid the doctor who delivered her with a sack of cornmeal.

From Salon • Jan. 19, 2026

Leen is offering a $10,000 reward for an original print from Wind Cave or Great Smoky Mountains, with a promise to donate them to the National Park Service archives.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 23, 2023

The far shore of the lake marked the southern boundary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson