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middle Atlantic

middle Atlantic

1 3.5
A region in the east of the United States that includes states like New York and Virginia
  • adjective
  • US
translation icon : medio atlántico
  • The Middle Atlantic states are known for their diverse landscapes, from beaches to mountains.
  • middle Atlantic states
  • middle Atlantic area
  • middle Atlantic region

Examples

  • New Jersey again led the Middle Atlantic and Chesapeake states in Atlantic surfclam landings and value.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Do New England, Middle Atlantic, and Florida surf culture values differ?

    Academic text (1992)
  • The research settings were two mental hospitals, one public and one private, in the middle Atlantic region.

    Academic text (1994)
  • These artists arrived from New England or from the urban areas of the Middle Atlantic States, particularly Philadelphia.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Virginia again led other Middle Atlantic and Chesapeake states in landings and value.

    Academic text (1990)
  • The geographic distribution of NASW members differs from the U.S. population for New England, Middle Atlantic, southern, and Pacific states.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Numerous plant closures in New England and the Middle Atlantic area epitomize the modern fishery's dilemma regarding coastal development.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Hard blue crabs again led other Middle Atlantic and Chesapeake seafood species in landings; sea scallops again led in value.

    Academic text (1990)
  • But deciding to go there was a function of the East Coast, middle Atlantic world in which I grew up, which made plain to me, as it did to my peers, that if you were bright and you were a girl, you aspired to go to the best of the women's colleges.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Closer to home, the native East Coast American oyster, C. virginica, has been hard hit in the Middle Atlantic states by epizootics of two protozoan pathogens that began in the late 1950s and still persist.

    Academic text (1992)

Synonyms

mid-Atlantic
vsmiddle Atlantic
  • US
3.8

A region on the east coast of the United States that includes states like New York and Virginia

is the alternative form commonly used for the same regional name

Surface Forms

middle Atlantic positive

Morphology

middle + Atlantic

The meaning is compositionally built from 'middle' (central/intermediate) + 'Atlantic' (relating to the Atlantic), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to the central/central-eastern Atlantic coastal region. The exact list of states is not predictable from the words, but the general geographic sense is transparent and immediately accessible to B1 learners.

Etymology

Middle Atlantic comes from a simple map image: middle means the central part and Atlantic is the ocean on the east coast. So it names the states that lie 'between' the North and the South along the Atlantic, and today it means that group of states.