What do you call the 48 states

Employees in the News. Emergency Management. Survey Manual. Geographically and as a general reference , the United States of America includes all areas considered to be under the sovereignty of the United States, but does not include leased areas. On May 14, , the U. Although the official reference applies the term "conterminous," many use the word "contiguous," which is almost synonymous and better known.

Board on Geographic Names BGN , contains information about the official names for places, features, and areas in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the territories and outlying areas of the United States, including Today, the U. During this year period, 7. During this year, National Atlas of the United States and The National Map will transition into a combined single source for geospatial and cartographic information.

The importance of electric power is demonstrated by this view from space of lights across the continental United States at night. Credit: NASA. A map of the lower 48 states of the United States showing land cover overlayed with ecoregion boundaries. Alaska and Hawaii are, therefore, not contiguous.

If the rules of the giveaway say that entry is open to residents of the contiguous United States, they mean that residents of every state except Alaska and Hawaii are allowed to enter. Usually, the District of Columbia is also included, although it is not technically a state. Puerto Rico or other U. There are other ways to refer to all states except Alaska and Hawaii, including the "lower 48" states or "conterminous" United States. Some rules will be even more specific, referring to the "48 contiguous United States.

The term "continental U. Forty-nine of the U. Although Canada lies between the contiguous United States and Alaska, they are all on the same continent, so Alaskan residents can enter these sweepstakes, too.

That means that only residents of Hawaii are restricted from entering sweepstakes open to the continental United States. Washington, DC, is also included, though U. Read the rules carefully to be sure, though.

To make things even more confusing, the U. The CONUS acronym might be part of the reason why so many people think that "contiguous" and "continental" mean the same thing when it comes to geographical restrictions. Ever wondered why so many sweepstakes don't allow all states to enter their giveaways?

Sometimes, states are prohibited from entering sweepstakes because they have different regulations about how giveaways are run, but that's not the case when it comes to Alaska and Hawaii. This is especially true when travel is involved, either when vacations are being given away or when the prize involves something like a celebrity visiting the winner's home. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Newsletters Donate My Account. Research Topics. Home Research Topics Methodological Research. Facts are more important than ever. Topics Methodological Research. You have the threat that a high enough price will start to activate the 7, drilled but uncompleted wells in the lower 48 states, and meanwhile, if Iranian crude is really taken off the water, it's going to impact Brent much more than it's going to impact WTI. By ignoring huge swaths of lynx habitat, the Service is undermining the benefits of protecting individual lynx wherever they are found in the Lower 48 , To recover in the American West, lynx need habitat protections throughout their range.

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Word in Definition. Wiktionary 3. How to pronounce lower 48? Alex US English.