Appalachia
Americannoun
-
a region in the eastern United States, in the area of the southern Appalachian Mountains, usually including northeastern Alabama, northwestern Georgia, northwestern South Carolina, western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, western Virginia, eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, and eastern Ohio.
-
Geology. a Paleozoic landmass, the erosion of which provided the sediments to form the rocks of the Appalachian Mountains.
noun
Discover More
A major coal-mining center and one of the most impoverished regions of the country.
Etymology
Origin of Appalachia
First recorded in 1920–25; back formation from Appalachian ( def. )
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.
I told them I was from Kentucky, and I grew up working class in Appalachia, where my family still lived.
From Salon • Apr. 19, 2026
Her roots are pure Appalachia; growing up in Sandy Hook, Ky., as the daughter of a dentist turned local politician and a mother who played piano for gospel quartets.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026
About 33% of U.S. gas comes from Appalachia.
From Barron's • Jan. 23, 2026
The cold spell upends what had actually been a tepid winter, which along with rising Appalachia and Permian gas production, has driven what’s still a 32% decline in natural gas prices from their December peak.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 20, 2026
They were filmmakers from New York City, and they’d been sent to Welch as part of a government program to bring cultural uplift to rural Appalachia.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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.
