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Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara

85 2.3
A city on California's Pacific coast with warm weather and Spanish-style buildings
  • proper noun
  • /ˈsæntə ˈbɑrbərə/
: Santa Barbara
  • The picturesque city of Santa Barbara is famous for its stunning beaches and Mediterranean architecture.
  • Santa Barbara, California
  • University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Santa Barbara, CA

It turns out that a big population of research was being done in Santa Barbara, CA, where I worked.

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Examples

  • The firm, an engineering and design concern based in Santa Barbara, Calif., is part of the McLaren Automotive Group Inc.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Did you hear about this Bordeaux tasting dinner down in Santa Barbara... on Saturday night?

  • Let's drive up to Santa Barbara.

  • John W. I. Lee is a professor of history at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

    Academic text (2011)
  • One of the best producers in Santa Barbara County.

  • The exhibition will be at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art from September 19 to December 13.

    Academic text (2009)
  • And I just did my first scripted feature and we had our premiere at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

  • Her work has previously appeared in the Santa Barbara Review, The Pacific Review, Westwind, and Myriad Journal of Art.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Five California municipalities are preparing to start food residuals recycling programs, including Santa Barbara County and Palm Springs.

    Academic text (1999)
  • The laureates are, respectively, professors of physics at the University of California in Santa Barbara, Caltech, and MIT.

    Academic text (2004)

Surface Forms

Morphology

Santa + Barbara

The compound is a toponym formed from a saint-name construction (Santa + Barbara), so a learner who knows the constituents can infer it is likely a place named for Saint Barbara; this pattern is common cross-linguistically. However, the specific referent (a particular city in California with its climatic and scenic properties) and those attributes are not derivable from the parts alone, so the full meaning is not fully predictable.

Etymology

Santa Barbara comes from Spanish, where Santa means 'saint' and Barbara is the name of a saint. One popular story says Spanish explorers landed there on her 'feast day' and named the place after her, which is why the city is called Santa Barbara today.