Definitions

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

  • A state of the eastern United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies, it was explored by Europeans in the early 1600s, settled by Swedes in 1634, and granted by an English royal charter to William Penn in 1681. The Mason-Dixon Line (surveyed in 1763–1767) established the colony's southern boundary and was extended westward in 1784. Pennsylvania played a crucial role in the American Revolution and ratified the US Constitution in 1787. Harrisburg is the capital and Philadelphia the largest city.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A state of the United States of America. Capital: Harrisburg; largest city: Philadelphia.
  • proper noun The first, and historically largest, now defunct US railroad, a hallmark of the industrial age.

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

  • noun a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies
  • noun one of the British colonies that formed the United States
  • noun a university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

On March 4, 1681, Charles II of England granted a land tract to William Penn for the area that now includes Pennsylvania. Penn then founded a colony there as a place of religious freedom for Quakers, and named it for the Latin sylvania meaning "woods," thus "Pennsylvania."

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Examples

  • DONALD KETTL, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: The real problem is, there was a sense that these issues -- especially the ones that people here in Philadelphia and the larger area around Pennsylvania just didn't have a chance to resonate with.

    CNN Transcript Apr 19, 2008 2008

  • JOHN MORGANELLI, PENNSYLVANIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We have reciprocity among our states, particularly Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, states that we recognize as our neighbors.

    CNN Transcript Nov 2, 2007 2007

  • COMMISSIONER JEFFREY MILLER, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: The initial call that we received -- that the Pennsylvania State Police received -- came into the Harrisburg Consolidated Dispatch Center at 10: 36 hours.

    CNN Transcript Oct 2, 2006 2006

  • JACK LEWIS, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: Our information is very sketchy at this time, and I'm hampered by the fact that I'm about 60 miles away from the scene at our headquarters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

    CNN Transcript Oct 2, 2006 2006

  • STEPHEN REED, MAYOR OF HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA: No specific information regarding any specific location in south central Pennsylvania, including Three Mile Island, although there is some degree of intelligence information that has been gathered from the chatter over the last several weeks, suggesting that there is what is called a golden triangle between Washington, D.C.,

    CNN Transcript Dec 29, 2003 2003

  • DAVID HESS, SECRETARY, PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: Well, I tell you, Wolf, we were very confident all the way along, because we had a terrific team of experts not only from Pennsylvania, but also MSHA (ph) and the folks from the federal government and from the coal-mining community, working on getting those guys out there.

    CNN Transcript Jul 28, 2002 2002

  • WORK, WAR & WILDERNESS: PENNSYLVANIA WPA POSTERS, 1937-1943, Features posters commissioned by the Federal Art Project of the WPA, which celebrate the history, industry and wildlife of Pennsylvania.

    The Clog 2009

  • WORK, WAR & WILDERNESS: PENNSYLVANIA WPA POSTERS, 1937-1943, # Features posters commissioned by the Federal Art Project of the WPA, which celebrate the history, industry and wildlife of Pennsylvania.

    The Clog 2009

  • CHARLES DAVIS, PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: We have a serious problem in Pennsylvania.

    CNN Transcript Dec 5, 2008 2008

  • LYNN SWANN (R), FORMER PENNSYLVANIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: For Pennsylvania, it's been fairly exciting.

    CNN Transcript Apr 22, 2008 2008

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