Proper noun

Singular Washington

Plural -

Washington

1. George Washington, the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army and first President of the United States of America, from 1789 to 1797.
2. Washington, D.C., the federal capital of the United States since 1800.
3. (by synecdoche) The government or administrative authority of the United States.

   "Washington’s conclusion that Israel likely misused U.S.-made cluster munitions by firing them at civilian areas in Lebanon has brought new pressure on Israel to review its wartime practices." — Cluster-bomb report weighs on Israel, Yahoo News, January 30, 2007.

4. A state of the United States of America. Capital: Olympia.
5. A town in the county of Tyne and Wear in the Northeast of England.
6. A surname.
7. A male given name popular during the first century of American independence, also in the form George Washington.

Quotations

• For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.

Derived terms

• WA
• Washington DC
• Washingtonian
• Washington's Birthday

Washington (pronounced /ˈwɒʃɪŋtən/ ( listen)) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the forty-second state in 1889. The United States Census Bureau estimated the state's population was 6,549,224 as of 2008.

Nearly sixty percent of Washington's residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area, the center of transportation, business, and industry, and home to an internationally known arts community. The remainder of the state consists of deep rain forests in the west, mountain ranges in the center, northeast and far southeast, and eastern semi-deserts given over to intensive agriculture.

Washington was named after George Washington, the first President of the United States, and is the only U.S. state named after a president. Washington is often called Washington state or the State of Washington to distinguish it from the District of Columbia. However, Washingtonians (and many residents of neighboring states) normally refer to the state simply as "Washington" while usually referring to the nation's capital as "Washington D.C." or simply "D.C."