Adjacent Words

Alaska definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a state in northwestern North America; the 49th state admitted to the union; "Alaska is the largest state in the United States" [syn: Alaska, Last Frontier, AK]

Merriam Webster's

geographical name state (territory 1912-59) of the United States NW North America capital Juneau area 591,004 square miles (1,530,700 square kilometers), population 626,932 • Alaskan adjective or noun

Britannica Concise

State (pop., 1997 est.: 609,000) of the U.S., lying at the extreme northwest of N. America. It is the largest in area of the U.S. states and covers 591,004 sq mi (1,530,700 sq km), most of it in land. Facing Siberia across the Bering Strait and Sea to the west, it has the highest point on the continent, Mt. McKinley. Its capital is Juneau. The original inhabitants, Indians and Eskimos, are thought to have migrated over the Bering Land Bridge as well as from the Arctic. The first European settlement was established in the late 18th cent. by Russian fur traders on Kodiak Island. Hudson's Bay Co. traders were also interested in the same area, and Russian-Canadian trade rivalry lasted well into the 19th cent. In 1867 W. Seward negotiated Alaska's sale from the Russians to the U.S., and the subsequent discovery of gold stimulated Amer. settlement. Alaska was a U.S. Territory from 1912 until it was admitted as the 49th state in 1959. Its economy has become increasingly centered on oil and natural gas: since the opening of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in 1977, Alaska has become second only to Texas in the U.S. production of crude oil.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. Phrases and idioms: baked Alaska sponge cake and ice-cream in a meringue covering. Etymology: name of a State of the US