mainland

noun

main·​land ˈmān-ˌland 

-lənd

: a continent or the main part of a continent as distinguished from an offshore island or sometimes from a cape or peninsula

mainlander

ˈmān-ˌlan-dər 

-lən-

noun

Synonyms

• continent
• landmass
• main

Examples of mainland in a Sentence

the boat back to the mainland leaves once every two days

Recent Examples on the Web

The designer opened his first mainland China store in Shanghai, and his first U.S. store in Los Angeles in 2020, followed by a location in Chengdu, China, in 2022. —Miles Socha, WWD, 25 Feb. 2025

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.36% in its last hour of trade while mainland China’s CSI 300 dipped 1.11% to 3,925.65 amid escalating trade tensions with the U.S. —Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 24 Feb. 2025

One estimate suggested that each new detainee bed at Guantanamo Bay will cost five times more than a comparable one on the mainland United States. —Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY, 22 Feb. 2025

Analysts have said that the unannounced presence of the warships near Australian territorial waters — thousands of miles away from the Chinese mainland — was a show of force. —Victoria Kim, New York Times, 21 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for mainland

• armband
• backhand
• bandstand
• baseband
• broadband
• command
• cropland
• demand
• disband
• dreamland
• expand
• farmhand

Kids Definition

mainland

noun

main·​land ˈmān-ˌland 

-lənd

: a continent or the main part of a continent as distinguished from an offshore island or sometimes from a cape or peninsula

mainlander noun

Geographical Definition

Mainland

geographical name

Main·​land ˈmān-ˌland 

-lənd

1

honshu

2

island in northern Scotland; largest of the Orkney Islands

3

island in northern Scotland; largest of the Shetland Islands