What does "smithsonian" mean?

Of or pertaining to James Smithson (c.1765–1829), British mineralogist and chemist whose bequest was used to set up the Smithsonian Institution in the United States.

Smithsonian

adj, name

adj, name ·4 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1
Of or pertaining to James Smithson (c.1765–1829), British mineralogist and chemist whose bequest was used to set up the Smithsonian Institution in the United States.

Proper Noun

1
The Smithsonian Institution, a group of museums and research centers established in 1846 and administered by the United States government.
"Published in 1982, the now out-of-print computer guide is a real relic, full of dozens of black-and-white pictures of large, bulky computers that you would sooner find in the Smithsonian than on anybody's desk today."

Example

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"What is the Smithsonian Institution?"

Etymology

From Smithson + -ian.

Related phrases

united states

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