Nation

Quick meaning: Nation is a noun meaning (international law, metonymic) A sovereign state; (loosely, metonymic, proscribed) a country.

Meaning

(international law, metonymic) A sovereign state; (loosely, metonymic, proscribed) a country.

More Meanings

1. In North America, an Indigenous people with federal and/or state recognition as such and (often also) their federally recognized territory.
2. (collective) A historically constituted, stable community of people, formed based on a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and/or psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.
3. (chiefly historical) An association of students based on the birthplace or ethnicity of its members.
4. (obsolete) A great number; a great deal.
5. (rare) Damnation.
6. (rare, dialectal) Extremely, very.
7. (rare, dialectal) An intensifier; extreme, great.

Example Sentences

pre-Columbian nations

The Roma are a nation without a country.

The term Navajo Nation refers both to the people and to their territory.

[…]and what a nation of herbs he had procured to mollify her humours, &c. &c.[…]

Word Forms

• nations

Synonyms for nation

Depending on context, synonyms include state, land, country, nationality, commonwealth.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include nationality, commonwealth, country, state, land, national.

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