Kentucky

[ kuhn-tuhk-ee ]

noun
  1. a state in the east central United States. 40,395 sq. mi. (104,625 sq. km). Capital: Frankfort. Abbreviations: KY (for use with zip code), Ken., Ky.

  2. a river flowing northwest from eastern Kentucky to the Ohio River. 259 miles (415 km) long.

Other words from Kentucky

  • Ken·tuck·i·an, adjective, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Kentucky in a sentence

  • The house sat in its yard overlooking the twisting road and the steep banks of the middle fork of Kentucky River.

    The Code of the Mountains | Charles Neville Buck
  • How hunters and surveyors followed; how the first fort was built, and the first women stood on the banks of the Kentucky River.

  • The place then settled—a fine location on the Kentucky River—was called, in honor of its founder, Boonesborough.

  • In this time the enemy began to undermine our fort, which was situated sixty yards from Kentucky River.

  • She and her mother were the first white women to stand on the bank of the Kentucky River.

    Daniel Boone | Katharine E. Wilkie

British Dictionary definitions for Kentucky

Kentucky

/ (kɛnˈtʌkɪ) /


noun
  1. a state of the S central US: consists of an undulating plain in the west, the Bluegrass region in the centre, the Tennessee and Ohio River basins in the southwest, and the Appalachians in the east. Capital: Frankfort. Pop: 4 117 827 (2003 est). Area: 102 693 sq km (39 650 sq miles): Abbreviation: Ken., Ky., (with zip code) KY

  2. a river in central Kentucky, rising in the Cumberland Mountains and flowing northwest to the Ohio River. Length: 417 km (259 miles)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Kentucky

Kentucky

State in the east-central United States bordered by Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to the east; Tennessee to the south; and Missouri to the west. Its capital is Frankfort. Louisville is its largest city.

Notes for Kentucky

The state is known for the breeding of race horses. The Kentucky Derby, a famous horse race, is held every year in Louisville.

Notes for Kentucky

Kentucky bluegrass is a type of folk music that originated in the southern United States. The music is named for a bluish-tinged grass that grows in Kentucky.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.