Cleveland Syllabification: (Cleve·land)Pronunciation: /ˈklēvlənd/Definition of Cleveland 1a major port and industrial city in northeastern Ohio, on Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River; population 433,748 (est. 2008). 2a city in southeastern Tennessee, northeast of Chattanooga; population 39,753 (est. 2008). Cleveland in other Oxford dictionaries Definition of Cleveland in the British & World English dictionary