Midwestern
Americanadjective
Usage
What does Midwestern mean? Midwestern is an adjective used to describe the region known as the Midwest—the northern central area of the mainland United States.Generally, the boundaries of the Midwestern region are Canada to the north, the Rocky Mountains to the west, the southern borders of Missouri and Kansas to the south, and the Allegheny Mountains to the east. Sometimes the Midwest is thought of as extending to the eastern border of Illinois or Ohio.The Midwest is one of the United States’ four official regions as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Because the Census Bureau doesn’t divide states when defining regions, it sets Ohio as the Midwest’s eastern border. According to the Census, 12 states are located within the Midwest: Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota.Americans themselves often differ in terms of which states they consider to be Midwestern. Sometimes, states on the fringes, such as Ohio or North Dakota, aren’t considered to be a part of the Midwest.The word Midwestern is commonly used to describe the region and states in that region, but it can also describe the people who live there or things about them, as in Midwestern values. A person from the Midwest can be called a Midwesterner.Example: I always love to travel to the central United States to see the beautiful scenery of the Midwestern states.
Etymology
Origin of Midwestern
An Americanism first recorded in 1905–10
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.
Average homes in northern Midwestern states, in contrast, would see their bills increase.
From Los Angeles Times
I’m writing to you from a Midwestern season I semi-lovingly refer to as The Thaw.
From Salon
Relocation agencies say their new clients include Midwestern small-business owners—architects, financial advisers and engineers—saving on healthcare costs by living seven time zones east of their clients.
But one of the beautiful surprises for this Midwestern boy has been the warmth of the welcome I’ve received in New York.
While taking many Midwestern farmers out for the year, the flooding pushed corn prices up 20% by that summer.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
