British Isles

American

plural noun

a group of islands in W Europe: Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and adjacent small islands. 120,592 sq. mi. (312,300 sq. km).

British Isles British

plural noun

a group of islands in W Europe, consisting of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Orkney, Shetland, the Channel Islands belonging to Great Britain, and the islands adjacent to these

"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

British Isles Cultural

The islands of Great Britain and Ireland and a number of smaller islands off their coasts.

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.

The measure which most sets apart the Jersey legislation from the rest of the British Isles concerns the manner in which those eligible for an assisted death can end their lives.

From BBC

It means Jersey is now the second part of the British Isles where assisted dying has been fully approved - the Isle of Man was the first.

From BBC

One of the Channel Islands, Jersey is part of the British Isles but sets its own laws.

From BBC

They examined how common the C282Y variant was in 29 regions across the British Isles and Ireland.

From Science Daily

The move gives it the same level of protection as all the other Celtic languages recognised across the British Isles, including Welsh.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023