Country

/ˈkʌntɹi/ · noun

Meaning

The territory of a nation; a sovereign state or a region once independent and still distinct in institutions, language, etc..

Definitions by Sense

1. The territory of a nation; a sovereign state or a region once independent and still distinct in institutions, language, etc.
2. (especially British, uncountable, countable) An area of land of undefined extent; a region, a district.
3. (uncountable, usually preceded by “the”) A rural area, as opposed to a town or city; the countryside.
4. The inhabitants or people of a district, region, or nation; the populace, the public.
5. (Australia, usually capitalised) Traditional lands of Indigenous people with embedded cultural, spiritual, cosmological, ecological, and physical attributes and values.
6. Ellipsis of country music.
7. (informal) The spirit of the country (rural places): the spirit of country folkways; those folkways.
8. (mining) The rock through which a vein of ore or coal runs.

Example Sentences

These days corporate Germany looks rather different. Volkswagen, the country’s leading carmaker, wants to be the world’s biggest by 2018.

By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.

But that expropriation of the Third World, [that] has been going on for 400 years, brings us to another revelation: namely, that the Third World is not poor. You don't go to poor countries to make money. There are very few poor countries in this world. Most countries are rich: the Philippines are rich, Brazil is rich, Mexico is rich, Chile is rich; only the people are poor. But there's billions to be made there, to be carved out, and to be taken; there's been billions for 400 years! The Capitalist European and North American powers have carved out and taken the timber, the flax, the hemp, the cocoa, the rum, the tin, the copper, the iron, the rubber, the bauxite, the slaves, and the cheap labour. They have taken out of these countries. These countries are not underdeveloped; they're overexploited!

It is a beautiful country of rolling hills, fertile valleys, and a thousand rivers and streams which keep the landscape green even in winter.

The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.

Most foreigners who have heard of Bhutan know two things: the country charges international visitors a $100/day sustainable development fee (aka tourist tax), and that it is the birthplace of the Gross National Happiness Index, a system intended to look after the well-being of citizens and the environment.

We walk along flat, open country, red dirt and spinifex grass, a few short trees[…].

I was borne and brought up in the Countrie, and amidst husbandry[…].

Synonyms for country

Antonyms for country

Related Words

Word Forms

• countries
• contree
• countrey
• contrey
• countre
• countrie
• counterie
• counthry
• cuntry
• countrier
• more country
• countriest
• most country

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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