district

[ dis-trikt ]
See synonyms for: districtdistricts on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a division of territory, as of a country, state, or county, marked off for administrative, electoral, or other purposes.

  2. a region or locality: the theater district; the Lake District.

  1. British. a subdivision of a county or a town.

  2. the District, the District of Columbia; Washington, D.C.

verb (used with object)
  1. to divide into districts.

Origin of district

1
First recorded in 1605–15; from French, from Medieval Latin distrīctus “exercise of justice, restraining of offenders,” derivative of Latin distringere “to stretch out; detain, occupy,” equivalent to di- suffix of separation + strig- (base of stringere “to bind, tie”) + -tus suffix of verbal action; see distrain, di-2

Other words from district

  • in·ter·dis·trict, adjective
  • outdistrict, noun
  • pre·dis·trict, noun

Words Nearby district

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use district in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for district

district

/ (ˈdɪstrɪkt) /


noun
    • an area of land marked off for administrative or other purposes

    • (as modifier): district nurse

  1. a locality separated by geographical attributes; region

  1. any subdivision of any territory, region, etc

  2. (in England from 1974 and in Wales 1974–96) any of the subdivisions of the nonmetropolitan counties that elects a council responsible for local planning, housing, rates, etc: See also metropolitan district

  3. (in Scotland until 1975) a landward division of a county

  4. (in Scotland 1975–96) any of the subdivisions of the regions that elected a council responsible for environmental health services, housing, etc

  5. any of the 26 areas into which Northern Ireland has been divided since 1973. Elected district councils are responsible for environmental health services, etc

verb
  1. (tr) to divide into districts

Origin of district

1
C17: from Medieval Latin districtus area of jurisdiction, from Latin distringere to stretch out; see distrain

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