peninsula
/pɪˈnɪnsjʊlə
/noun
A piece of land almost surrounded by water or projecting out into a body of water.The island's 3,700 acres of tropical rainforest are a biological reserve that also includes five surrounding peninsulas on the Panama mainland....
- In mid-winter, the warm water around the Southwest peninsula seems to give them most lightning.
- Just before we descend to the car park, I look out at the bay and a long peninsula of land pointing towards the East.
Synonyms
cape, promontory, point, head, headland, foreland, ness, horn, bill, bluff, limb;
Scottish mull
archaic half-island, half-isle, demi-island
Usage
The spelling of the noun as peninsular instead of peninsula is a common mistake. The spelling peninsula should be used when a noun is intended (the end of the Cape Peninsula), whereas peninsular is the spelling of the adjective (the peninsular part of Malaysia).
Origin
Mid 16th century: from Latin paeninsula, from paene 'almost' + insula 'island'.