Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • A city of southeast Michigan on the Detroit River, a waterway, about 50 km (30 mi) long, marking the Canadian border between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie. Founded by French settlers in 1701, Detroit was the center of the US automobile industry in the 1900s.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun The largest city and former capital of Michigan, a major port on the Detroit River, known as the traditional automotive center of the U.S.
  • proper noun by metonymy The United States automotive industry.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the largest city in Michigan and a major Great Lakes port; center of the United States automobile industry; located in southeastern Michigan on the Detroit river across from Windsor

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French détroit (“strait”) in Rivière du Détroit (Detroit River)

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