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westerner

westerner

3 3.3
A person who lives in the western part of a country, especially the western United States
  • noun
  • /ˈwɛstərnər/
  • US
: occidental
  • The westerner felt out of place in the bustling market of the Eastern city.

Examples

  • Tucker was a member of one of Virginia's first families, and though he was a westerner of a sort (he lived in the Shenandoah Valley), he was also a mainline moderate elite.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Inevitably, as the economic basis of the cowboy life declined, the westerner's lifestyle and trappings likewise changed.

    Academic text (2005)
  • I might note that as a westerner, these things are illegal.

    Blog text (15)
  • The issue is what does the majority of Americans, or westerners in general make of it?

  • I sometimes think it may be easier for a Westerner to write about Chinese than for a Northerner to write about Virginians.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • As westerners, we do not consider withholding medicine because it is too effective.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Few contemporary westerners have spoken of these practices as sciences or forms of inquiry.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Several of them were impoverished street kids, peddling packs of gum to the westerners who frequent the area.

    Blog text (10)
  • Core-wise, I'm Californian, pure Angelino, a westerner, i.e., hopeful.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Growing up as a westerner, I always enjoyed the wide open spaces of the West.

Surface Forms

westerner singular
westerners plural

Morphology

westerner = western (transparent) = west + ern + er

Formed by adding the agentive suffix '-er' to the recognizable adjective 'western', yielding 'a person from the west'.

Etymology

The word westerner comes from west, which means 'the direction where the sun sets', and the ending -er which means 'a person'. So a westerner is someone who lives in or comes from the western part of a country.