Greenland

American

[green-luhnd, -land] / ˈgrin lənd, -ˌlænd /

noun

a self-governing island belonging to Denmark, located NE of North America: the largest island in the world. About 844,000 sq. mi. (2,186,000 sq. km); about 700,000 sq. mi. (1,800,000 sq. km) icecapped. Godthåb.

Greenland British

/ ˈɡriːnlənd /

noun

Danish name: Grønland. Greenlandic name: Kalaallit Nunaat. a large island, lying mostly within the Arctic Circle off the NE coast of North America: first settled by Icelanders in 986; resettled by Danes from 1721 onwards; integral part of Denmark (1953–79); granted internal autonomy 1979; mostly covered by an icecap up to 3300 m (11 000 ft) thick, with ice-free coastal strips and coastal mountains; the population is largely Inuit, with a European minority; fishing, hunting, and mining. Capital: Nuuk (Godthåb). Pop: 57 714 (2013 est). Area: 175 600 sq km (840 000 sq 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

Greenland Cultural

Island lying largely within the Arctic Circle; owned by Denmark but governed locally since 1978. Its native name is Kaballit Nunaat.

Discover More

Greenland is the largest island in the world. (Australia is larger but is officially a continent, not an island.)

Other Word Forms

Greenlander noun
Greenlandish adjective

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 U.S. operates two hospital ships: one is currently docked at an Alabama shipyard while the other is on its way to Panama, which is pretty much in the opposite direction from Greenland.

From Salon

Like many scientists of the time, he thought there could be an ice-free ocean, an “open polar sea,” above Greenland.

From Literature

"We must stick together in Europe, and we must secure the future of the Danish Commonwealth" - Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

From BBC

He described American threats to annex Denmark's autonomous territory of Greenland "mind-boggling".

From Barron's

In contrast, the Siberian strong field region has expanded by 0.42% of Earth's surface area, comparable to the size of Greenland.

From Science Daily

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