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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  

[ney-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  

[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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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

"The nation is on a political journey, and I'm on a political journey as well, and it's about bringing people with us."

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

But no other foreign nation has drawn such frequent, sustained attention from the world’s richest man as the U.K., according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of 4½ years’ worth of his posts on X.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

As the nation abandoned Reconstruction, a generation of politicians and historians recast Johnson as a martyr to congressional tyranny.

From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026

The GunaiKurnai, an Australian Aboriginal nation, are recognized as the traditional custodians of Gippsland and the southern Victorian Alps.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026

They told everyone the people of Mozambique must work together to build a new nation now that the Portuguese colonialists had been defeated.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

In addition to San Diego County, its partners include the California Department of Public Health, the Navajo Nation and organizations across the broader Insight Net network.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026

"Mr. Tung dedicated his life with an unwavering commitment to the service of the Nation and the Hong Kong SAR. His contributions with integrity, compassion, and dignity will be well remembered," it said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

Berta's relationship with Roc Nation was particularly prevalent this summer given Arsenal's pursuit of Vinicius and the sale of Gabriel Martinelli, who are both clients of the agency.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

According to Live Nation, concertgoers who purchased their tickets through Ticketmaster can expect an automatic refund while those who bought tickets through third-party resellers were told to contact their point of purchase.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

But the Osage Nation was in the way of the economic drive of the European world...and life as they once knew it would never be the same.”

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Goods exported in July to fellow European Union nations, alongside the U.K. and China, all fell back, but exports to the U.S. jumped almost 20% on month.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

Sixty-five nations now offer them, the study said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

Sweden was one of a small handful of western European nations that took in thousands of vulnerable refugees during the 2015 migrant crisis, many fleeing the war in Syria.

From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026

Within minutes, Miliband’s office issued a joint statement with the foreign ministers of Canada, France and nine other European nations.

From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026

In the late fifteenth century, as European explorers sailed to unfamiliar places, their actions and beliefs were guided by the Doctrine of Discovery—the idea that European nations could claim the foreign lands they “discovered.”

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