East Indies

[ eest-in-deez ]

/ ˈist ˈɪn diz /

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plural noun

Also called the Indies . SE Asia, including East Timor, India, Indonesia, and the Malay Archipelago.

the Malay Archipelago.

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Also called East India .

OTHER WORDS FROM East Indies

East Indian, adjective, nounpseu·do-East In·di·an, adjective, noun

Words nearby East Indies

East Hartford, East Haven, East India Company, East Indian, East Indian walnut, East Indies, easting, easting down, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, East Islip, East Kilbride

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use East Indies in a sentence

In Britain and elsewhere, people knew what the East Indies were, and knew of events there.
Obama's Awkward Indonesia Trip|Sahil Mahtani, Kenneth Weisbrode|November 7, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Besides, we now know that the plant which furnishes the Chinese tobacco is even said to grow wild in the East Indies.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
No one in Europe now doubted that the western way to the East Indies was discovered.
Journal of a Voyage to Brazil|Maria Graham
An earthquake near Poonah, in the East Indies, swallowed up a large district and more than 2000 persons.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell

You will soon hear the particulars, but the essential is that the French have not any place of arms in the East Indies.
Private Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794) Volume 1 (of 2)|Edward Gibbon
Some have, indeed, confounded the scaly lizards of the East Indies with the armadillos of America.
Buffon's Natural History. Volume VII (of 10)|Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon

British Dictionary definitions for East Indies

East Indies

pl n the East Indies

the Malay Archipelago, including or excluding the Philippines

SE Asia in general

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012