Nevada ( nə-VAD-ə, -⁠VAH-, Spanish: [neˈβaða]) is a landlocked state in the Western region of the United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, the 32nd-most populous, and the ninth-least densely populated U.S. state. Nearly three-quarters of Nevada's population live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area, including three of the state's four largest incorporated cities. Nevada's capital is Carson City. Las Vegas is the largest city in the state.

Nevada is officially known as the "Silver State" because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the "Battle Born State" because it campaigned during its relatively brief territorial status as the Nevada Territory (1861–1864), then quickly achieved statehood during the American Civil War (1861–1865), (the words "Battle Born" also appear on its state flag); due to the 16th presidency of Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865, served 1861–1865). The federal Union benefited immensely economically translated into military necessity from the support of newly awarded statehood as the 36th state by the massive infusion of the monetary support it provided of nearly $400 million dollars in rich underground geological layers of veins of silver ore generated at the time by the 1859 discovery of the legendary Comstock Lode, mined beneath and around Virginia City up to about 1874 /1920s). It is also known as the "Sagebrush State", for the native plant of the same name; and as the "Sage-hen State". The state's name means "snowy" in the Spanish language, referring to Nevada's small overlap with the Sierra Nevada mountain range on its western edge; however, the rest of Nevada is largely desert and semi-arid, much of it within the central Great Basin region. Areas south of the Great Basin are within the Mojave Desert shared with Southern California, while the high altitude of Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada lie on the western edge. In 2020, 80.1% of the state's land was managed by various jurisdictions of the U.S. federal government, both civilian and military.

Native Americans of mostly the Paiute, Shoshone, and Washoe tribes inhabited what is now Nevada. The first Europeans to explore the region were tho Spanish and explorers from their worldwide Spanish Empire in the 16th century. They called the region Nevada (snowy) because of the snow which covered the mountains in winter, similar to the Sierra Nevada mountains in European Spain. The area formed from mostly Alta California (Upper California) to the west and to the east as part of Nuevo México (New Mexico)'s colonial province and territory to the northern portion within the larger colonial era Viceroyalty of New Spain, which gained freedom as the first independent government of the First Mexican Empire (Mexico) in 1821.

The westward expanding United States a quarter-century later annexed the area of the Mexican Cession in 1849 after its victory in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), and it was incorporated into the U.S. as part of the newly-organized larger federal New Mexico Territory (1850–1863 split with Arizona Territory, then statehood 1912) in the southern portion.

To the north of the newly acquired Mexican / Spanish lands was the similarly larger Utah Territory (1850–1896) along with the far-western new 31st state of California on the Pacific Ocean coast also in 1850. The discovery of mineral wealth at the Comstock Lode silver bonanza in 1859 led to a population boom similar to that of earlier California Gold Rush in 1848–1852, that became an impetus to the creation of the Nevada Territory out of the western portion of the Utah Territory in 1861.

Nevada became the 36th state on October 31, 1864, as the second of two states added to the Union during the Civil War (the first being West Virginia).

Nevada is known for its libertarian laws. In 1940, with a population of just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state, with less than half the population of the next least-populous state, Wyoming. However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination in the 20th century. Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legal, though it is illegal in its most populated regions – Clark County (Las Vegas), Washoe County (Reno) and Carson City (which, as an independent city, is not within the boundaries of any county). The tourism industry remains Nevada's largest employer, with mining continuing as a substantial sector of the economy: Nevada is the fourth-largest producer of gold in the world. Nevada is the driest state, and has been influenced by climate change, droughts in Nevada have been increasing in frequency and severity, putting a further strain on Nevada's water security.