Editing West Coast of the United States (section)

==Definition==
There are conflicting definitions of which states comprise the West Coast of the United States, but the West Coast always includes [[California]], [[Oregon]], and [[Washington (state)|Washington]] as part of that definition. Under most circumstances, however, the term encompasses the three contiguous states and [[Alaska]], as they are all located in North America. For census purposes, [[Hawaii]] is part of the West Coast, along with the other four states.<ref name="World Atlas definition">{{cite web |last1=Kiprop |first1=Victor |title=Which States Are on the West Coast? |url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-states-are-on-the-west-coast.html |publisher=World Atlas |access-date=November 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925075338/https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-states-are-on-the-west-coast.html |archive-date=September 25, 2020 |date=January 11, 2019}}</ref> ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' refers to the North American region as part of the Pacific Coast, including Alaska and [[British Columbia]]. Although the encyclopedia acknowledges the inclusion of Hawaii in some capacity as part of the region, the editors wrote that "it has little in common geologically with the mainland states."<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica article">{{cite web |title=Pacific Coast |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Pacific-Coast |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030195804/https://www.britannica.com/place/Pacific-Coast |archive-date=October 30, 2020 |date=December 28, 2015}}</ref>

Several dictionaries offer different definitions of the West Coast. [[Lexico]] restricts the West Coast's definition to "the western seaboard of the U.S. from Washington to California."<ref name="Lexico definition">{{cite web |title=West Coast |url=https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/west_coast |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113233345/https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/west_coast |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 13, 2020 |website=Lexico |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=November 13, 2020}}</ref> However, [[Macmillan Dictionary]] provides a less specific definition as "the western coast of the U.S., along the [[Pacific Ocean]]."<ref name="Macmillan definition">{{cite web |title=the West Coast |url=https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/the-west-coast |website=Macmillan Dictionary |publisher=Macmillan Education |access-date=November 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514155010/http://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/the-west-coast |archive-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref> As for the [[Cambridge Dictionary]], the West Coast is "the area of the Pacific coast in the U.S. that includes California."<ref name="Cambridge definition">{{cite web |title=the West Coast |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/west-coast |website=Cambridge Dictionary |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=November 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190823102640/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/west-coast |archive-date=August 23, 2019}}</ref>