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 Words From

• 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

Other European nations swiftly joined in, including Ireland and France, which issued a statement supporting the ICC.

From Los Angeles Times

Where hurricanes, flooding, and higher temperatures have massive impacts on crops, including peaches, around the nation, heirloom varieties, like the Indian peach, are also threatened.

From Salon

In his state-of-the-nation address on Thursday, Ruto said the deals had been cancelled based on "new information provided by our investigative agencies and partner nations".

From BBC

The young nation was divided and newspapers and pamphlets hammered home the differences between the two men – in many cases embellishing those differences.

From Salon

It was unclear whether three other deaths of foreign travelers reported this week in Laos, a landlocked nation in Southeast Asia that is popular with backpackers, had been caused by methanol.

From New York Times

Related Words

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