Western Hemisphere

[ wes-tern hem-i-sfeer ]

noun

1. the western part of the terrestrial globe, roughly extending from the prime meridian west to the antimeridian: sometimes considered synonymous with the New World because the Americas are its primary composition, the Western Hemisphere technically extends into western Eurasia and Africa, easternmost Siberia, and part of Antarctica as well.

western hemisphere

noun

1. that half of the globe containing the Americas, lying to the west of the Greenwich or another meridian
2. the lands contained in this, esp the Americas

Western Hemisphere

/ wĕs′tərn /

1. The half of the Earth that includes North America, Central America, and South America, as divided roughly by the 0° and 180° meridians.
2. See more at prime meridian

Word History and Origins

Origin of Western Hemisphere¹

First recorded in 1640–50

Example Sentences

"Rubio has a real sense of a need to engage economically with the Western Hemisphere in a way that we just haven't done for a number of years," he says.

From BBC

The Carson site may lend itself best to warehouses, which are always in demand around the nearby Port of Los Angeles, the busiest container port in the Western Hemisphere, Gundersheim said.

From Los Angeles Times

To build the train, workers slashed a path the width of a football field across the Yucatán, a peninsula jutting between the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea that is home to one of the Western Hemisphere’s largest rain forests.

From Los Angeles Times

Vance’s comments and Republican anti-Haitian comments traffic in fascism, and we need to be wary of politicians who blame migrants from the poorest country in the Western hemisphere for the social problems caused by politicians who regularly want to cut the budget on education, health care, and housing.

From Slate

Department of Water and Power brought major operations at the busiest seaport in the Western Hemisphere to an abrupt stop.

From Los Angeles Times