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• nation
  nation

  noun

  a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own.
• Nation
  Nation

  noun

  Carry or Carrie (Amelia Moore), 1846–1911, U.S. temperance leader.

nation

¹ American  

[nay-shuhn] / ˈneɪ ʃən /

noun

• nations
  plural

1. 

   a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own.

   The president spoke to the nation about the new tax.

2. the territory or country itself.

   the nations of Central America.

   Synonyms:

   realm, kingdom, commonwealth, state

3. a member tribe of an American Indian confederation.

4. an aggregation of persons of the same ethnic family, often speaking the same language or cognate languages.

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Nation ² American  

[nay-shuhn] / ˈneɪ ʃən /

noun

1. Carry or Carrie (Amelia Moore), 1846–1911, U.S. temperance leader.

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nation British  

/ ˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. an aggregation of people or peoples of one or more cultures, races, etc, organized into a single state

   the Australian nation

2. a community of persons not constituting a state but bound by common descent, language, history, etc

   the French-Canadian nation

3. 1. a federation of tribes, esp American Indians

   2. the territory occupied by such a federation

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Synonym Usage

See race ².

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• minination
  noun
• nationhood
  noun
• supernation
  noun
• internation
  adjective
• nationless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• nations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of nation

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Latin nātiōn- (stem of nātiō ) “birth, tribe,” equivalent to nāt(us) (past participle of nāscī “to be born”) + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

A nation is a country and its people. It's also the word used for the Native American tribal federations in the US — the Cherokee Nation, for instance — which have their own governments and territories. Nation comes from the Latin root nat-, which means "born" — the neonatal unit in a hospital is where the newborn babies are cared for. You can also use nation more loosely for ethnic or religious groups: you might speak of "the Jewish nation," meaning not just the country, or nation, of Israel, but Jews all over the world. The Nation of Islam is an African-American Muslim group.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nation Nation nations

Samoa, a tiny island nation of about 221,000 people, sits about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

It hit around 360 billion euros in 2025, meaning the EU imported far more from the Asian nation than it exported there.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

The energy summit harked back to a time in the once-prosperous South American nation when oil was the engine of growth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

And this week he kicked off his tour of the nation by campaigning in … Alabama and Oklahoma?

From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2026

I felt hopeful that the nation was changing and that our daughters would have a better future.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

“The charts of bitcoin, and other leading cryptos, continue to look encouraging from a technical point of view,” David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, said in recent emailed notes to clients.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

The American Independent and One Nation did not respond to an AFP request for comment.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

She also told investors she was sending inventory to retailers such as Target and Walmart, and was receiving large infusions of money from companies such as Apple Inc. and Roc Nation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026

For example, Jason Galanis, who pled guilty to defrauding the Oglala Sioux Nation, had paid just over $2 million of his $80 million restitution before his sentence was commuted and the restitution erased in 2025.

From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026

As tensions intensified between the Spanish in Florida and the southern British colonies, both the Spanish and the British sought to win over the Cherokee Nation as an ally.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

The two nations are proposing a new trade tool that would allow the European Union to quickly block cheap Chinese imports.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

Several EU nations including France have pushed for a "European equivalent of Section 301" -- the trade tool US President Donald Trump used to probe foreign practices Washington deems discriminatory, and retaliate with tariffs.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

With the U.S. on the sidelines, Saudi Arabia has turned to other nations, including Turkey and Pakistan, with which it recently signed a tripartite, NATO-style mutual defense agreement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026

Governments are also working to ensure their nations aren’t left behind.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

This confederacy incorporated six widely dispersed nations comprising thousands of agricultural villages and hunting grounds in what are currently known as New York, Pennsylvania, and Quebec.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Related Words

• community
• democracy
• people
• population
• public
• society
• state
• tribe
• union