geography

noun

ge·​og·​ra·​phy jē-ˈä-grə-fē 

plural geographies

1

: a science that deals with the description, distribution, and interaction of the diverse physical, biological, and cultural features of the earth's surface

2

: the geographic features of an area

3

: a treatise on geography

4

a

: a delineation or systematic arrangement of constituent elements : configuration

the philosophers … have tried to construct geographies of human reason

—Times Literary Supplement

b

: makeup sense 1

her emotional geography

Synonyms

• chorography
• geomorphology
• landscape
• terrain
• topography

Examples of geography in a Sentence

studying the geography of the western United States

the geography of the region matches ancient descriptions of the location of the lost city

Recent Examples on the Web

Should this change by category, customer segmentation or by region/geography? —Arthur Zaczkiewicz, WWD, 5 Nov. 2024

World & Nation Airstrike in Lebanon kills pregnant woman, children near border with Israel Sept. 30, 2024 The war has brought with it a new geography for Beirut, rendering some of its main arteries inaccessible for those unwilling to risk Israeli targeting. —Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2024

Prioritize the ability to dissect risk data across multiple dimensions—geography, risk type, industry sector. —David Benigson, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024

The story offers a quite specific geography for the island and the area that surrounds it. —Deborah Treisman, The New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin geographia, from Greek geōgraphia, from geōgraphein to describe the earth's surface, from geō- + graphein to write — more at carve

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing geography

• dialect geography
• linguistic geography
• physical geography

Kids Definition

geography

noun

ge·​og·​ra·​phy jē-ˈäg-rə-fē 

plural geographies

1

: a science that deals with the location of living and nonliving things on earth and the way they affect one another

2

: the natural parts of an area

the geography of the western U.S.

geographer

-fər

noun

geographic

ˌjē-ə-ˈgraf-ik

adjective

or geographical

-i-kəl

geographically

-i-k(ə-)lē

adverb