Virgin Islands

American  

[vur-jin ahy-luhndz] / ˈvɜr dʒɪn ˈaɪ ləndz /

plural noun

1. a group of islands in the West Indies, east of Puerto Rico: comprises the Virgin Islands of the United States and the British Virgin Islands. VI (for use with zip code), V.I.

---

Virgin Islands British  

plural noun

1. a group of about 100 small islands (14 inhabited) in the Caribbean, east of Puerto Rico: discovered by Columbus (1493); consists of the British Virgin Islands in the east and the Virgin Islands of the United States in the west and south. Pop: 136 649 (2013 est). Area: 497 sq km (192 sq miles)

---

Virgin Islands Cultural  

1. Islands in the Caribbean Sea, east of Puerto Rico, owned by the United States and Britain.

---

Discover More

Christopher Columbus discovered the Virgin Islands in 1493.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Virgin Islands

There was initially a tsunami threat advisory issued along the coast of Venezuela, and parts of the Caribbean, including the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

Some of the SpaceX investors on Kahlon’s ledger are easy to identify: the Indian politician Abhishek Singhvi; Betsy DeVos, the former U.S. secretary of education; a British Virgin Islands company owned by Indonesian billionaires.

From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2026

You go to the Virgin Islands and meet a lot of people who had different political beliefs, religious beliefs, who grew up very differently than I did in East Tennessee.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026

Born to parents who moved to New York from the US Virgin Islands, Rollins incorporated some of the inflections of his heritage into his jazz.

From Barron's ● May 26, 2026

My father only told me that she’s here, in the Virgin Islands, on Saint Thomas—not that she’s alive.

From "Hurricane Child" by Kheryn Callender