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Glite Dictionary
the Dakotas

the Dakotas

3 3.0
Two US states, North Dakota and South Dakota
  • proper noun
translation icon : las Dakotas
  • At some point, the Dakotas will realize that there are more jobs and tax revenues in wind power than in oil shale.
  • the Dakotas and Nebraska

So in places like South Dakota, the Dakotas, perhaps parts of Nebraska, if you go down that way.

Examples

  • Respondents from Nebraska, the Dakotas, and eastern Wyoming chose the chokecherry (Prunus virginiana L.).

    Academic text (2003)

  • Ten tribal colleges in Nebraska and the Dakotas offer Native Americans foundation-supported programs in bison education and management (Conley 1999b; Cournoyer 1999).

    Academic text (1999)

  • The church moved him from one small town in the Dakotas to another every year or two.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • And then I am no longer in the Dakotas; I am out walking alone.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • My mama's family, a lot of them had lived out west in the Dakotas.

    Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994)

  • It included Iowa and the Dakotas, northern Minnesota.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Bountiful foods associated with the farming culture of the Midwest were found in the eastern parts of the Dakotas and Nebraska.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Dill, sweet, and beet pickles are popular in the Dakotas, where they are often served together in relish trays.

    Academic text (2003)

  • In this survey, such items occurred with regularity in the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas, where respondents featured specific wild fruits much more often than the standard strawberry or raspberry.

    Academic text (2003)

  • You know, I was thinking, after we drop you off, I might take the family up to the Dakotas to see Mount Rushmore.

Synonyms

Dakota
vsthe Dakotas
  • US
3.7

A region made up of the states North Dakota and South Dakota

sometimes includes the historic territory meaning that covers the wider region

Surface Forms

the Dakotas main

Morphology

the + Dakotas

The phrase is built compositionally from the proper noun 'Dakota' plus plural marking and the definite article, so a learner who knows the constituent 'Dakota' will readily infer it denotes the Dakota region or the two states (North and South Dakota). This is a straightforward referential, compositional use rather than an idiom, and similar plural-region constructions exist across languages, making it transparent to B1 learners.

Etymology

The Dakotas comes from the name of the Dakota people, who lived in that region long ago. The land was once called the 'Dakota Territory' and was split into North and South, so today the Dakotas usually means the two states or the whole region.