nation

¹ American  

[ney-shuhn] / ˈneɪ ʃən /

noun

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  

[ney-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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Related Words

See race ².

Other Word Forms

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

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

"I believe that we have the opportunity to lead the nation, to establish comprehensive, developmentally grounded screen-time limits that puts students before screens," Melvoin said at a meeting on Tuesday.

From BBC • Apr. 22, 2026

In fact, because we’ve had more than 12 straight months of continuous measles spread, the nation should soon lose the measles elimination status we achieved back in 2000.

From Salon • Apr. 22, 2026

At the inauguration of a new phase of the Galkynysh plant in mid-April, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov -- former president and now father of the nation -- hailed the country's important ties with Beijing.

From Barron's • Apr. 21, 2026

But she never had the financial resources to aggressively compete in a state with many of the most expensive media markets in the nation.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 20, 2026

“If Tokyo needed to be evacuated,” he later said, “I feared the entire nation of Japan would be paralyzed by chaos for quite a long time.”

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

Related Words

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