COLUMBIA

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Columbia mean? 

• COLUMBIA (noun)
  The noun COLUMBIA has 5 senses:

1. a North American river; rises in southwestern Canada and flows southward across Washington to form the border between Washington and Oregon before emptying into the Pacific; known for its salmon runs in the spring

2. a town in west central Tennessee

3. capital and largest city in South Carolina; located in central South Carolina

4. a university town in central Missouri

5. a university in New York City

  Familiarity information: COLUMBIA used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COLUMBIA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A North American river; rises in southwestern Canada and flows southward across Washington to form the border between Washington and Oregon before emptying into the Pacific; known for its salmon runs in the spring

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

Columbia; Columbia River

Instance hypernyms:

river (a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek))

Holonyms ("Columbia" is a part of...):

Canada (a nation in northern North America; the French were the first Europeans to settle in mainland Canada)

Evergreen State; WA; Wash.; Washington (a state in northwestern United States on the Pacific)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A town in west central Tennessee

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Instance hypernyms:

town (an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city)

Holonyms ("Columbia" is a part of...):

Tenn.; Tennessee; TN; Volunteer State (a state in east central United States)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Capital and largest city in South Carolina; located in central South Carolina

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

capital of South Carolina; Columbia

Instance hypernyms:

state capital (the capital city of a political subdivision of a country)

Holonyms ("Columbia" is a part of...):

Palmetto State; S.C.; SC; South Carolina (a state in the Deep South; one of the original 13 colonies)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A university town in central Missouri

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Instance hypernyms:

town (an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city)

Holonyms ("Columbia" is a part of...):

Missouri; MO; Mo.; Show Me State (a midwestern state in central United States; a border state during the American Civil War, Missouri was admitted to the Confederacy without actually seceding from the Union)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A university in New York City

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

Columbia; Columbia University

Instance hypernyms:

university (establishment where a seat of higher learning is housed, including administrative and living quarters as well as facilities for research and teaching)

Holonyms ("Columbia" is a part of...):

Greater New York; New York; New York City (the largest city in New York State and in the United States; located in southeastern New York at the mouth of the Hudson river; a major financial and cultural center)

Holonyms ("Columbia" is a member of...):

Ivy League (a league of universities and colleges in the northeastern United States that have a reputation for scholastic achievement and social prestige)

 Context examples 

The District of Columbia, also known as D.C., is not a state, nor is it part of any state.

(District of Columbia, NCI Thesaurus)

Derived by Curtiss and Dunning (1926) at Columbia University by crossing an inbred August rat with an inbred Copenhagen rat, to Heston (1945) and then to the NIH in 1950.

(ACI/Seg, Rat Strain, NCI Thesaurus)

These were that Lord John had found himself some years before in that no-man's-land which is formed by the half-defined frontiers between Peru, Brazil, and Columbia.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A previous study from Columbia University found that B vitamins may also play a role in lowering the negative impact of air pollution.

(Aspirin Could Cut Air Pollution Harms, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A new paper by researchers at the Earth Institute at Columbia University offers fresh insights into the forces causing the world's largest ice shelf to melt.

(Study in Antarctic waters reveals why Ross Ice Shelf melts in summer, National Science Foundation)

Research by scientists at Brown and Columbia Universities has demonstrated the existence of previously unknown states of matter that arise in double-layer stacks of graphene, a two-dimensional nanomaterial.

(Research reveals exotic quantum states in double-layer graphene, National Science Foundation)

The Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center is Columbia University's organizational component for the conduct of basic, clinical, and population-based cancer research and patient care.

(Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, NCI Thesaurus)

Developed by researchers at Northwestern and Columbia Universities, the nanolaser shows promise for imaging in living tissues.

(Tiny, biocompatible laser could function inside living tissues, National Science Foundation)

Derived by Curtiss and Dunning (1920) at Columbia University and disseminated to Heston (1949) and then to the NIH (1951).

(F344, Rat Strain, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

His prospecting led him through the Dakotas, Idaho, and eastern Oregon, and on into the mountains of British Columbia.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)