Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The US Department of State.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun United States Department of State, which is housed in a building in a low-lying area of Washington near the Potomac River

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From the location of the Department of State in a low-lying area of Washington, DC, near the Potomac River.]

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Examples

  • Our State Department is called Foggy Bottom for a reason - we send our worst there.

    Do Us A Favor, Pakistanis! 2009

  • MORTON: In 2003 he suggested a small nuclear blast to shake up the State Department, whose building is in a Washington neighborhood called Foggy Bottom - quote -- "Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up like Newt Gingrich wants to do" -- unquote.

    CNN Transcript Aug 23, 2005 2005

  • A nickname for the United States Department of State, whose offices were built in a formerly swampy area of Washington, D.C., known as Foggy Bottom because of vapors rising from the swamp.

    Foggy Bottom 2002

  • Justice Department officials said Arbabsiar approached an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in Mexico and inquired about his knowledge of explosives and the possibility of targeting the Saudi embassy in D.C., located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood, near the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and across the street from the Watergate office and residential complex.

    Terror Plot Disrupted Nick Wing 2011

  • So the place to be Tuesday night for anyone interested in new music or the cello - or just innovative thinking in general - was St. Mary's Church in Foggy Bottom, where Uitti showed why she might be the most interesting cellist on the planet.

    Cellist Frances-Marie Uitti gives virtuoso performance in D.C. Post 2011

  • All the streets in Foggy Bottom were jammed, and Pennsylvania Avenue and M Street were no better, especially because many people were heading for the Key Bridge to go to Virginia.

    David de Sola: Remembering 9/11 a Decade Later David de Sola 2011

  • All the streets in Foggy Bottom were jammed, and Pennsylvania Avenue and M Street were no better, especially because many people were heading for the Key Bridge to go to Virginia.

    David de Sola: Remembering 9/11 a Decade Later David de Sola 2011

  • Justice Department officials said Arbabsiar approached an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in Mexico and inquired about his knowledge of explosives and the possibility of targeting the Saudi embassy in D.C., located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood, near the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and across the street from the Watergate office and residential complex.

    Terror Plot Disrupted Nick Wing 2011

  • All the streets in Foggy Bottom were jammed, and Pennsylvania Avenue and M Street were no better, especially because many people were heading for the Key Bridge to go to Virginia.

    David de Sola: Remembering 9/11 a Decade Later David de Sola 2011

  • So the place to be Tuesday night for anyone interested in new music or the cello - or just innovative thinking in general - was St. Mary's Church in Foggy Bottom, where Uitti showed why she might be the most interesting cellist on the planet.

    Cellist Frances-Marie Uitti gives virtuoso performance in D.C. Post 2011

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