NATO

American  

[ney-toh, en-ey-tee-oh] / ˈneɪ toʊ, ˈɛnˈeɪˈtiˈoʊ /

abbreviation

1. North Atlantic Treaty Organization: a political and military alliance established in 1949 in Washington, D.C., by 12 countries in Europe and North America for the purpose of collective defense against aggression, now comprising 32 member nations: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

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NATO British  

/ ˈneɪtəʊ /

acronym

1. North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an international organization composed of the US, Canada, Britain, and a number of European countries: established by the North Atlantic Treaty (1949) for purposes of collective security. In 1994 it launched the Partnership for Peace initiative, in order to forge alliances with former Warsaw Pact countries; in 1997 a treaty of cooperation with Russia was signed and in 1999 Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic became full NATO members

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Example Sentences

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stressed Spain was a "reliable member" of NATO, after a report the United States was considering trying to suspend it over its refusal to support military operations against Iran.

From Barron's • Apr. 25, 2026

France, Poland, the Nordic countries and Canada, which are now casting the contingency plan as a coalition-of-the-willing within NATO, according to officials involved.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026

Rob Murray, formerly the head of innovation at NATO, began working on the idea in 2018.

From Barron's • Apr. 13, 2026

Macron also weighed in the president’s grumbling about leaving NATO.

From Salon • Apr. 2, 2026

The newly democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations, the EU and NATO, while the Communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.

From The 1999 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency