Meanings
- Irelandpluralplural onlyrareThe archipelago in the North Atlantic comprising Great Britain, Ireland and surrounding islands.
In all documents jointly drawn up by the British and Irish governments, the archipelago is simply referred to as "these islands."
2010, World and Its Peoples, Marshall Cavendish, →ISBN, page 83 more examples
Since the Lions only play outside the British Isles or these islands, the opportunity for Irish nationalists to insist that the former description should not be used has not been taken.
2001, John McGarry, Northern Ireland and the Divided World: Post-Agreement Northern Ireland in Comparative Perspective, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 231The west coast from Kerry north to Donegal has high cliffs interspersed with sandy beaches and one major estuary, that of the Shannon, the largest river in these islands.
2010, Clive Hutchinson, Birds in Ireland, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 16Same-sex marriage proposals have been greenlit in Jersey and Guernsey - meaning that Northern Ireland is the only remaining part of these islands where marriage equality continues to be blocked.
2016 April 26, Nick Duffy, “Isle of Man finally passes same-sex marriage”, in Pink NewsSynonyms: Anglo-Celtic Isles, British Isles, British and Irish Isles, Islands of the North Atlantic
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe archipelago in the North Atlantic comprising Great Britain, Ireland and surrounding islands.
Origin
Circumlocution to avoid the word British in the phrase British Isles.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
these islands. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/these%20islands
“these islands.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/these%20islands. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “these islands,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/these%20islands.
Source: these islands on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.