Jump To:

• Western Hemisphere
  Western Hemisphere

  noun

  the western part of the terrestrial globe, roughly extending from the prime meridian west to the antimeridian: sometimes considered synonymous with the New World because the Americas are its primary composition, the Western Hemisphere technically extends into western Eurasia and Africa, easternmost Siberia, and part of Antarctica as well.
• western hemisphere
  western hemisphere

  noun

  that half of the globe containing the Americas, lying to the west of the Greenwich or another meridian

Western Hemisphere

American  

[wes-tern hem-i-sfeer] / ˈwɛs tərn ˈhɛm ɪˌsfɪər /

noun

1. the western part of the terrestrial globe, roughly extending from the prime meridian west to the antimeridian: sometimes considered synonymous with the New World because the Americas are its primary composition, the Western Hemisphere technically extends into western Eurasia and Africa, easternmost Siberia, and part of Antarctica as well.

---

western hemisphere British  

noun

1. that half of the globe containing the Americas, lying to the west of the Greenwich or another meridian

2. the lands contained in this, esp the Americas

---

Western Hemisphere Scientific  

/ wĕs′tərn /

1. The half of the Earth that includes North America, Central America, and South America, as divided roughly by the 0° and 180° meridians.

2. See more at prime meridian

---

Etymology

Origin of Western Hemisphere

First recorded in 1640–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Western Hemisphere western hemisphere

Colombia's president-elect said on Tuesday that he would accept an invitation for his country to join the "Shield of the Americas", a US-led alliance of Western Hemisphere countries created to combat criminal cartels and drug-trafficking.

From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026

In the short term, it will probably drive some countries back to burning coal and accelerate oil drilling in the Western Hemisphere.

From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2026

And those troops have been unable to train or maintain their weapons, said Craig Deare, who served early in Trump’s first administration as senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

Western Hemisphere hantavirus strains are so deadly because they can attack the lungs and make them leak.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026

One way to sum up the new scholarship is to say that it has begun, at last, to fill in one of the biggest blanks in history: the Western Hemisphere before 1492.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Kelty is worried that with the onset of the summer planting season in the western hemisphere, the lack of fertilizer could reduce crop yields and lead to higher inflation going forward.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 19, 2026

He died even after receiving treatment, the first documented such instance in the western hemisphere.

From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2023

Relations between the U.S. and Mexico were strained by the June summit that was supposed to be about unity among western hemisphere nations.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 28, 2022

I meet a group of women from the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago, which had one of the highest rates of recruitment to IS in the western hemisphere.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2021

Malcolm was one of the smartest men in the western hemisphere.

From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson