HIGHLAND

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does highland mean? 

• HIGHLAND (noun)
  The noun HIGHLAND has 1 sense:

1. elevated (e.g., mountainous) land

  Familiarity information: HIGHLAND used as a noun is very rare.

• HIGHLAND (adjective)
  The adjective HIGHLAND has 1 sense:

1. used of high or hilly country

  Familiarity information: HIGHLAND used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HIGHLAND (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Elevated (e.g., mountainous) land

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

highland; upland

Hypernyms ("highland" is a kind of...):

elevation; natural elevation (a raised or elevated geological formation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "highland"):

down ((usually plural) a rolling treeless highland with little soil)

plateau; tableland (a relatively flat highland)

Instance hyponyms:

Highlands; Highlands of Scotland (a mountainous region of northern Scotland famous for its rugged beauty; known for the style of dress (the kilt and tartan) and the clan system (now in disuse))

Antonym:

lowland (low level country)

Derivation:

highland (used of high or hilly country)

• HIGHLAND (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Used of high or hilly country

Synonyms:

highland; upland

Similar:

alpestrine; subalpine (growing at high altitudes)

alpine (living or growing above the timber line)

mountainous (containing many mountains)

Derivation:

highland (elevated (e.g., mountainous) land)

 Context examples 

With this resolution I traversed the northern highlands and fixed on one of the remotest of the Orkneys as the scene of my labours.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Previous research has found similar surface features in the Moon's highlands, but wrinkle ridges have never been seen in basins before now.

(Study Finds New Wrinkles on Earth's Moon, NASA)

Wilson's team concentrated on those equatorial areas, particularly with a 600-mile (1,000-kilometer) stretch of loose, easily erodible material between the northern lowlands and southern highlands along the Medusae Fossae Formation.

(A Fresh Look at Older Data Yields a Surprise Near the Martian Equator, NASA)

I packed up my chemical instruments and the materials I had collected, resolving to finish my labours in some obscure nook in the northern highlands of Scotland.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)