Meaning of east in English

east

(also East)

/iːst/ us

/iːst/

(written abbreviation E)

the direction from which the sun rises in the morning, opposite to the west, or the part of an area or country that is in this direction:

The points of the compass are north, south, east, and west.

Which way is east?

Most of the country, except the east, is rural.

in the east of Her home is in the east of France.

to the east of According to the map, the village lies about ten kilometres to the east of here.

the East

Asia, especially its eastern and southern parts:

She spent her childhood in the East - mostly in China.

In this class, we will be studying how medieval trade routes westernized the East.

those countries in Europe that had communist governments before the 1990s:

The collapse of Communism changed East-West relations for ever.

If you were from the US or the UK, it was nearly impossible to get a tourist visa to visit any countries in the communist East.

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The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
The transcontinental railway goes from New York in the east to San Francisco in the west.
There will be rain showers in the east.
The climate is cooler in the east of the country.
The army had been positioned to the north and east of the city.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Points of the compass

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Towns & regions: parts of countries

Direction of motion

Countries, nationalities & continents: continents & regions of the world

Grammar

East or eastern; north or northern?

…

Idiom

back east

east

adjective

(also East)

/iːst/ us

/iːst/

(written abbreviation E)

in or forming the east part of something:

Cambridge is in East Anglia.

The east wall of the mosque is covered with a beautiful mosaic.

east wind

a wind coming from the east:

Officials are worried that the east wind will continue to spread wildfires.

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Rimini is a thriving holiday resort on the east coast of Italy.
There was a cool east wind blowing and clouds were gathering on the horizon.
On the east side of the hill, the land falls away sharply.
Few climbers attempt to ascend the east face of the mountain.
The visitors stood for several minutes at the east door of the cathedral, looking down the nave.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Points of the compass

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Grammar

East or eastern; north or northern?

…

east

adverb

(also East)

/iːst/ us

/iːst/

(written abbreviation E)

towards the east:

We'll drive east for a few more miles, then turn south.

east of They were the first people to travel east of the mountains (= into the area beyond and to the east of the mountains).

due east We walked due (= directly) east for two kilometres.

face east The garden faces east, so we'll get the morning sun.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Direction of motion

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Points of the compass

Grammar

East or eastern; north or northern?

…

(Definition of east from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

east | American Dictionary

east

noun [ U ]

/ist/

(abbreviation E.)

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the direction where the sun rises in the morning that is opposite west, or the part of an area or country that is in this direction:

The points of the compass are north, south, east, and west.

Most of the state’s heavy industry is in the east.

the East

The East is Asia, esp. its eastern and southern parts:

She spent her childhood in the East, mostly in China and Japan.

the East

In the US, the East is the part of the country east of the Mississippi River.

(Definition of east from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of east

east

The study area is surrounded by large expanses (>200 km) of mainly continuous forest to the west, north and east.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

As we move from east to west through this area, a change is visible in the landscape.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The latter two individuals had their skulls placed toward the east.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The east has a longer history of settlement and is more urbanized than the west, which is somewhat of a frontier zone.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Integral to the pricing mechanism behind residential property was an east-west axis not re-ected in the distribution of businesses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

With no support in the south and east, his presidential bid was all but doomed even before it was launched.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Moving north-south, one is directed towards the fireplaces [1 and 22]; moving east-west, one is directed toward the exterior landscape.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The severity of famine gradually increased in the east which slowly proceeded from west through the decades.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The vaulted roof and east facade of the pyramid platform are hypothetical.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Thus leaves v to the east or south.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This process was set to continue, and it was settled that these larger buildings should run mostly in an east-west direction.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the final design iteration, we decided that we wanted the south and east edges of the canopy to follow the walls.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The structure was anchored in the south-east and south-west corners to start construction.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The mountains steeply rise from the sea on the west side, and from the vast lowland on the east side.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

For a one-dimensional grid, each cell has two neighbours, west (left) and east (right).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of east?