Dictionary

mainland en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /mæɪnlænd/ (Australia, New-Zealand)
• /ˈmeɪnlænd/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈmeɪnlənd/ (General-American)
• /-lænd/ (General-American)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English mayne londe; equivalent to main + land. Compare Scots mayn-land, magan-land, madin-land (“mainland”), Faroese meginland (“mainland”), Icelandic meginland (“mainland”).

Meanings

1. The continent; the principal land, as distinguished from islands or a peninsula.
   • […]I got to the mainland, where, to my great comfort, I clambered up the cliffs of the shore and sat me down upon the grass, free from danger and quite out of the reach of the water. 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
   • Other examples of nonhuman self-domestication in the wild exist—for instance, the Zanzibar red colobus monkey diverged from the mainland African red colobus in similar ways during its island isolation—but bonobos are the closest and most relevant to us. 2019 January 29, Melvin Konner, “A Bold New Theory Proposes That Humans Tamed Themselves”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN, archived from the original on 09 Jul 2019:
   • You may have not realised when I was using the term mainland Europe, I was excluding the British Isles. 2005, comment (not durably archived)
2. The principal island of a group.
3. (Northern-Ireland) Great Britain.
   • All of the people I interviewed were from Protestant backgrounds, with proud British traditions. Yet when they set foot on the mainland, they were met at times with jeering, derision and othering from the very people with whom they were raised to believe they had the most in common. 2024 February 10, Emma DeSouza, “The most effective cure for Northern Irish unionism? Attitudes in England”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Forms

Deriveds

mainland Europe · mainlandization · mainland China · mainland Japan · mainland Chinese · mainland clouded leopard · mainlander

Translations (86)

my ပြည်မကြီး (the main landmass of a country or continent) · mi tuawhenua (the main landmass of a country or continent) · uk контине́нт (the main landmass of a country or continent) · la continens (the main landmass of a country or continent) · id daratan utama (the main landmass of a country or continent) · mk контине́нт (the main landmass of a country or continent) · da fastland (the main landmass of a country or continent) · eo ĉeflando (the main landmass of a country or continent) · sk pevnina (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ro continent (the main landmass of a country or continent) · is meginland (the main landmass of a country or continent) · kw dor bras (the main landmass of a country or continent) · mi mokoroa (the main landmass of a country or continent) · el ηπειρωτική χώρα (the main landmass of a country or continent) · fa خشکی (the main landmass of a country or continent) · bn মূলভূমি (the main landmass of a country or continent) · pt continente (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ko 본토 (the main landmass of a country or continent) · fo fastland (the main landmass of a country or continent) · lv sauszeme (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ja 本土 (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ru матери́к (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ar يَابِسَة (the main landmass of a country or continent) · cmn 本土 (the main landmass of a country or continent) · grc ἤπειρος (the main landmass of a country or continent) · izh maanselkä (the main landmass of a country or continent) · be кантыне́нт (the main landmass of a country or continent) · it continente (the main landmass of a country or continent) · lt sausuma (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ca terra ferma (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ja 内地 (the main landmass of a country or continent) · cmn 大陸 /大陆 (the main landmass of a country or continent) · cs pevnina (the main landmass of a country or continent) · cy tir mawr (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ms tanah besar (the main landmass of a country or continent) · nb fastland (the main landmass of a country or continent) · de Festland (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ka მატერიკი (the main landmass of a country or continent) · mg kontinènta (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ar بَرّ (the main landmass of a country or continent) · az materik (the main landmass of a country or continent) · be мацяры́к (the main landmass of a country or continent) · be кантынэ́нт (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ko 대륙 (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ar قَارَّة (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ga tír mór (the main landmass of a country or continent) · nl vasteland (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ru контине́нт (the main landmass of a country or continent) · uz materik (the main landmass of a country or continent) · gd tìr-mòr (the main landmass of a country or continent) · sl kontinent (the main landmass of a country or continent) · vi đại lục (the main landmass of a country or continent) · is fastland (the main landmass of a country or continent) · fo meginland (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ga míntír (the main landmass of a country or continent) · es continente (the main landmass of a country or continent) · lo ແຜ່ນດິນໃຫຍ່ (the main landmass of a country or continent) · uk матери́к (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ja 大陸 (the main landmass of a country or continent) · km ដីគោក (the main landmass of a country or continent) · gv cheer vooar (the main landmass of a country or continent) · hy ցամաքամաս (the main landmass of a country or continent) · sw bara (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ka კონტინენტი (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ca continent (the main landmass of a country or continent) · oc continent (the main landmass of a country or continent) · kw tir meur (the main landmass of a country or continent) · fi manner (the main landmass of a country or continent) · mi otiki (the main landmass of a country or continent) · pl ląd stały (the main landmass of a country or continent) · sl celina (the main landmass of a country or continent) · fa قاره (the main landmass of a country or continent) · th แผ่นดินใหญ่ (the main landmass of a country or continent) · et manner (the main landmass of a country or continent) · gd mòr-thìr (the main landmass of a country or continent) · sc continente (the main landmass of a country or continent) · sv fastland (the main landmass of a country or continent) · bg континент (the main landmass of a country or continent) · ga mórthír (the main landmass of a country or continent) · sco mainland (the main landmass of a country or continent) · fr continent (the main landmass of a country or continent) · izh mantere (the main landmass of a country or continent) · de Kontinent (the main landmass of a country or continent) · pl kontynent (the main landmass of a country or continent) · cmn 內地 /内地 (the main landmass of a country or continent) · vi đất liền (the main landmass of a country or continent)