Nation

Pronunciation

• enPR: nā'shÉ™n, IPA: /ˈneɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Middle English nation, nacioun from Old French nation, nacion, from Latin nationem, accusative of natio, (g)natio ("nation, race, birth") from (g)natus, past participle stem of (g)nasci “to be born”. Displaced native Middle English theode, thede ("nation") (from Old English þēod), Middle English burthe ("birth, nation, race, nature"), Middle English leod, leode, lede ("people, race") (from Old English lēod).

Full definition of nation

Noun

1. An historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and/or psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.
   The Roma are a nation without a country.
   The Kurdish people constitute a nation in the Middle East
2. (international legal) A sovereign state.
• 2013-06-07, David Simpson, Fantasy of navigation, It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in the basket a balloon: ... perhaps to muse on the irrelevance of the borders that separate nation states and keep people from understanding their shared environment.
3. Though legally single nations, many states comprise several distinct cultural or ethnic groups.
4. (chiefly historical) An association of students based on their birthplace or ethnicity. nation
   Once widespread across Europe in medieval times, nations are now largely restricted to the ancient universities of Sweden and Finland.
5. (obsolete) A great number; a great deal.a nation of herbs

Usage notes

British Following the establishment of the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, England, Scotland and Wales are normally considered distinct nations. Application of the term nation to the United Kingdom as a whole is deprecated in most style guides, including the BBC, most newspapers and in UK Government publications. Northern Ireland, being of less clear legal status, generally remains a province.

Synonyms

• (an association of students) student nation

Derived terms

• First Nations
• nation building
• nation-state
• student nation
• United Nations

Related terms

Probably short for damnation.

Noun