Brussels

//ˈbɹʌsəlz// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A Brussels carpet.

    "If the same design be produced in a Brussels and in a Tapestry it will be found that the Brussels shows sharp, clean-cut outlines, where the Tapestry gives ragged, uneven effects, […]"

  2. 2
    A Brussels sprout.

    "We cooked a big Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing, Brussels, and parsnips."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The capital city of Belgium. Official name: City of Brussels.
  2. 2
    A region of Belgium. Official name: Brussels-Capital Region.

    "Buying bread from a man in Brussels / He was 6'4", and full of muscle"

  3. 3
    The administrative apparatus of the European Union. metonymically
  4. 4
    A historical district of the German Reich. Official name: District of Brussels.
  5. 5
    A historical republic of Western Europe; in full, Calvinist Republic of Brussels.
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  1. 6
    A historical county of Western Europe; in full, County of Brussels.

Synonyms

All synonyms
bruxelles

Example

More examples

"Brussels is the capital of Belgium."

Etymology

Etymology tree Dutch Brusselbor. English Brussels Borrowed from Dutch Brussel. The metonymic meaning of Brussels as the European Union stems from the fact that the EU headquarters is based in Brussels.

Related phrases

Brussels EnglishBrussels carpetBrussels effectBrussels groundBrussels laceBrussels netBrussels pointBrussels sproutBrussels wire groundBrussels-Englishbrussels carpeteuropean union

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.