Sicily

American  

[sis-uh-lee] / ˈsɪs ə li /

noun

1. an island in the Mediterranean, constituting a region of Italy, and separated from the SW tip of the mainland by the Strait of Messina: largest island in the Mediterranean. 9,924 sq. mi. (25,705 sq. km). Palermo.

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Sicily British  

/ ˈsɪsɪlɪ /

noun

1. Latin names: Sicilia.   Trinacria.  Italian name: Sicilia.  the largest island in the Mediterranean, separated from the tip of SW Italy by the Strait of Messina: administratively an autonomous region of Italy; settled by Phoenicians, Greeks, and Carthaginians before the Roman conquest of 241 _bc ; under Normans (12th–13th centuries); formed the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies with Naples in 1815; mountainous and volcanic. Capital: Palermo. Pop: 4 972 124 (2003 est). Area: 25 460 sq km (9830 sq miles)

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Sicily Cultural  

1. Island in southern Italy on the Mediterranean Sea, separated from the Italian mainland by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its capital is Palermo.

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Discover More

It is the largest Mediterranean island.

Other Word Forms

• Sicilian adjective

Example Sentences

Video footage released by police shows a small dog leisurely walking down a road in Catania's San Giorgio district in Sicily carrying a bag of rubbish in its mouth before dropping it.

From BBC • Feb. 20, 2026

Sicily precipitated the eventual collision between Carthage and Rome.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026

The “1 euro house” idea can be traced back to about 2008 in Salemi, Sicily, as a way to encourage repopulation there.

From Slate • Feb. 1, 2026

Adventurous types can also look to Sicily for a rare experience -- the chance to ski down an active volcano.

From Barron's • Feb. 1, 2026

Week after week he had informed her about Monty and the Brits driving Rommel’s tanks out of North Africa and the American troops liberating Algeria and landing in Sicily.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides