Yucatán
Americannoun
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a peninsula in SE Mexico and N Central America comprising parts of SE Mexico, N Guatemala, and Belize.
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a state in SE Mexico, in N Yucatán Peninsula. 14,868 sq. mi. (38,510 sq. km). Mérida.
noun
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a state of SE Mexico, occupying the N part of the Yucatán peninsula. Capital: Mérida. Pop: 1 655 707 (2000). Area: 39 340 sq km (15 186 sq miles)
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a peninsula of Central America between the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, including the Mexican states of Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo, and part of Belize: a centre of Mayan civilization from about 100 bc to the 18th century. Area: about 181 300 sq km (70 000 sq miles)
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It is the location of many Mayan ruins.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hurricane Idalia blew hundreds more from the Yucatán in 2023, including an exhausted bird, soon named Peaches, that landed off St. Pete Beach.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
This stands in contrast to famous sites like the Chicxulub crater near Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, which is directly linked to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 19, 2025
Can you tell readers a bit about your personal connection with the Yucatán Peninsula and Quintana Roo specifically?
From Salon ● Jan. 4, 2025
I had the blessing of traveling to Yaxunah in Yucatán, México, to meet a special group of indigenous women that defied their society, culture and history, just by picking a softball and running bases barefooted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 26, 2024
Sixty-six million years ago, give or take a few centuries, an asteroid about the size of Manhattan Island slammed into Earth near what we now call the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
