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

Both have left the camp and will be unavailable for Friday's game at Windsor Park and Monday's final Nations League fixture in Luxembourg.

From BBC

With a Nations League promotion secured the year before and a major tournament to prepare for, the decision was taken to take on friendlies, generally, against top-ranked nations.

From BBC

The Leicester pair have yet to feature in the Autumn Nations Series but come straight into the line-up in place of Ben Spencer and George Furbank.

From BBC

World champions South Africa have made 12 changes to their starting XV for Saturday's Autumn Nations Series match with England at Allianz Stadium.

From BBC

French Jews were also upset when Macron was quoted as saying that Netanyahu should accept United Nations calls for a ceasefire because “his country was itself created by a decision of the UN.”

From BBC

Related Words

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