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Southern United States

Southern United States

1 1.8
A part of the United States in the south with warm summers and a distinct culture
  • proper noun
  • /ˈsʌðərn juˈnaɪtɪd steɪts/
translation icon : sur de Estados Unidos
  • The cuisine of the Southern United States is famous for its dishes like gumbo and fried chicken.
  • northern and southern United States
  • located in the southern United States
  • university in the southern United States

Examples

  • The researcher visited youth sport programs located in a small college town in the southern United States.

    Academic text (2015)
  • Two hundred and seventy-one students at a large southern United States university completed the free elicitation task.

    Academic text (2008)
  • I'm personally a college student at a major four-year university in the southern United States of America.

    Blog text (12)
  • Historically, migration from the Southern United States to the North informed the movement of African Americans from the earliest days of slavery.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Catfish farmers in the southern United States seine their annual crop.

    Academic text (2000)
  • The sample was composed of 341 undergraduate students from a medium-sized university located in the southern United States of America.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Soil-moisture conditions generally control the biome transition from forest to grassland in the southern United States.

    Academic text (2012)
  • "Over the last 3 years, sheath blight and blast have devastated the rice crop in the southern United States," she says.

    Academic text (1994)
  • "In 1993, it was grown on 151,000 acres in the southern United States, about 6 percent of the region's total rice acreage."

    Academic text (1994)
  • Twenty-one graduate students pursuing a Master's of Professional Accountancy degree at a land-grant university in the southern United States participated in this study.

    Academic text (2000)

Synonyms

South
vsSouthern United States
1.0

The southern part of the United States below the Mason-Dixon line

emphasizes distinct cultural and historical characteristics of that region

Surface Forms

Morphology

southern + united + state

The meaning is compositionally built from 'southern' (pertaining to the south) and 'United States' (the country composed of states), so a learner who knows the constituents can infer it denotes the southern region of the U.S. This is a straightforward geographic, compositional expression found cross-linguistically and follows normal noun phrase formation, making it immediately comprehensible.

Etymology

Southern United States comes from calling the lower part of the country the south — imagine looking at a map and pointing to the bottom states. Because those states share a long history, warm weather, and different foods and music, Southern United States now means both that place and its special culture.