nation

¹

[ ney-shuhn ]

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.

Nation

²

[ ney-shuhn ]

noun

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

nation

/ 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

Derived Forms

• ˈnationless, adjective
• ˈnationˌhood, noun

Other Word Forms

• nation·hood noun
• nation·less adjective
• inter·nation adjective
• mini·nation noun
• super·nation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of nation¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of nation¹

C13: via Old French from Latin nātiō birth, tribe, from nascī to be born

Synonym Study

See race ².

Example Sentences

They had come from the US, which one expert describes as a "supermarket" feeding an arms race among gangs that have brought chaos to the Caribbean island nation.

From BBC

On Wednesday, the environmental group American Rivers ranked the Tijuana River No. 2 on its annual list of the nation’s most endangered rivers, up from No. 9 on the list last year.

From Los Angeles Times

Countries also approved the transfer of health technologies to poorer nations as long as it was "mutually agreed".

From BBC

Many Americans will be OK with that, as the right of sovereign nations to set their immigration policies as they see fit is rarely questioned.

From Los Angeles Times

During his tenure as Los Angeles County sheriff, which coincided with Trump’s first term, McDonnell allowed federal immigration authorities to operate freely in the nation’s largest jail system, targeting people who’d been arrested for deportation.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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