British Isles

American  

plural noun

1. 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).

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British Isles British  

plural noun

1. 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

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British Isles Cultural  

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

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Example Sentences

“This race kind of fell apart a little bit with a couple scratches,” British Isles trainer Richard Baltas said, “but there were still some nice horses in there and he did it with authority.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 7, 2026

Separately, the parliament in the Isle of Man - which is also part of the British Isles - passed its own assisted dying bill in March 2025.

From BBC • Feb. 26, 2026

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

From Science Daily • Feb. 21, 2026

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

From BBC • Feb. 4, 2026

They were convinced that they could force Britain to abandon the war by disrupting Allied shipping before vessels could reach the British Isles.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman