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United Nations

[ yoo-nahy-tid ney-shuhnz ]

noun

  1. the United Nations (used with a singular verb,) an international organization, with headquarters in New York City, formed to promote international peace, security, and cooperation under the terms of the charter signed by 51 founding countries in San Francisco in 1945, and since then by many more countries. : UN, U.N. Compare General Assembly, Security Council.
  2. (used with a plural verb) the nations that signed the joint declaration in Washington, D.C., January 2, 1942, pledging to employ full resources against the Axis powers, not to make a separate peace, etc.


United Nations

noun

  1. an international organization of independent states, with its headquarters in New York City, that was formed in 1945 to promote peace and international cooperation and security UN
  2. (in World War II) a coalition of 26 nations that signed a joint declaration in Jan 1942, pledging their full resources to defeating the Axis powers
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

United Nations

  1. An organization that includes virtually all countries in the world, with nearly 190 member nations. Its General Assembly, in which each member nation has one vote, guides policies and finances generally. Another important division of the United Nations is the Security Council , in which five powerful nations have a majority; the Security Council is charged with solving crises and keeping peace. The United Nations also includes an Economic and Social Council; a Secretariat, or administrative division; and the International Court of Justice , or World Court. It also is allied with several agencies that operate independently, such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) , the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
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Notes

The Korean War was officially fought by the United Nations against North Korea .
The United Nations was formed after World War II as a successor to the League of Nations and has served as a forum for many international disputes, notably the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Cuban missile crisis . It also engages in peacekeeping operations by sending lightly armed detachments of soldiers from neutral nations to supervise cease-fires between combatants. Through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), it provides aid for those uprooted by war or famine.
The headquarters of the U.N. are in Manhattan . Some of its affiliates, however, are centered elsewhere. The International Court of Justice sits in The Hague . UNHCR is headquartered in Geneva , and UNESCO in Paris .
A twenty-eight nation coalition of United Nations member states opposed Iraq 's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. ( See Persian Gulf War .)
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Compare Meanings

How does United Nations compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

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Example Sentences

World leaders are gathered there for the annual United Nations climate talks.

The number of barrels of refined petroleum it can receive is capped by the United Nations at 500,000 annually, well below the amount it needs.

From BBC

The United Nations have introduced the term "triple planetary crisis" to describe the interlinked global crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution.

Last week, a United Nations special committee found that Israel has committed atrocities consistent with the characteristics of genocide.

From Salon

In addition, last week the US government reaffirmed at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Cop29, held in Azerbaijan, that it intends to triple nuclear power generation by 2050.

From BBC

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