Colombia

American  

[kuh-luhm-bee-uh, kaw-lawm-byah] / kəˈlʌm bi ə, kɔˈlɔm byɑ /

noun

1. a republic in northwestern South America. 439,828 sq. mi. (1,139,155 sq. km). Bogotá.

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Colombia British  

/ kəˈlɒmbɪə /

noun

1. a republic in NW South America: inhabited by Chibchas and other Indians before Spanish colonization in the 16th century; independence won by Bolívar in 1819; became the Republic of Colombia in 1886; violence and unrest have been endemic since the 1970s. It consists chiefly of a hot swampy coastal plain, separated by ranges of the Andes from the pampas and the equatorial forests of the Amazon basin in the east. Language: Spanish. Religion: Roman Catholic majority. Currency: peso. Capital: Bogotá. Pop: 45 745 783 (2013 est). Area: 1 138 908 sq km (439 735 sq miles)

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Colombia Cultural  

1. Republic in northwestern South America, bordered by Panama to the northwest, Venezuela to the northeast, Ecuador and Peru to the south, and Brazil to the southeast. Its capital and largest city is Bogotá.

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Discover More

Trafficking of marijuana and cocaine remains a problem in Colombia. With support from the United States, the Colombian government has attacked drug traffickers, but the country continues to be torn by civil war between left-wing and right-wing factions.

Its major legal crop is coffee.

Other Word Forms

• Colombian adjective

Example Sentences

The study team included experts from the Universidad del Rosario in Colombia, the Clínica Universitaria de Navarra and Universitat de Valencia in Spain, and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

From Science Daily • Apr. 14, 2026

“I’m Carolina Giraldo Navarro from Medellín, Colombia, and today, I am the first Latina woman to headline at Coachella,” she told the crowd, decked in the red, blue and yellow colors of the Colombian flag.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026

Eric Fine, a portfolio manager at VanEck, likes Colombia.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

From an initial 30 percent, he later increased tariffs on Colombia to 50 percent.

From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026

A shape bends over him, cutting open his favorite Colombia soccer jersey, which his mom sent him for his birthday, slapping two pads on his chest.

From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott