nation

UK/ˈneɪʃən/US/ˈneɪʃən/

nounB1Very common — you will meet it every day · #1,499 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: nations

A nation is a country and the people who belong to it. The whole nation, a nation of readers, nation state.

A nation is the people and a state is the machinery, which is why a nation state is a claim that the two coincide and why they so often do not — many nations have no state and many states hold several nations. Note that the Latin means a birth or a people, from nasci, to be born.

Definitions of nation

1nounnationA country and the people who belong to it.B1
“The whole nation watched as the team lifted the trophy.”

nation is a people or country.

Where it comes from

Latin natio means a birth or a people, from nasci, to be born. Native, nature and nascent come from the same birth.

Middle English
nacioun
English, today
nation

Built from

nātiō · Latin — nation

From Middle English nacioun. From Middle English nacioun,nacion, from Old French nacion, from Latin nātiōnem, accusative of nātiō (“nation”). þēod.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

nation in the wild

In a more general sense, a nation-state is simply a large, politically sovereign country or administrative territory.
Nation state
Indeed, according to Thomas Hylland Eriksen, what distinguishes nations from other forms of collective identity, like ethnicity, is this very relationship with the state.
Nation
The law outlines a number of roles and responsibilities by which Israel is bound in order to fulfill the purpose of serving as the Jews' nation-state.
Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People
But in every nation, as I said, there are a vast class who are ill-educated, cowardly, and more or less stupid.
The Crown of Wild Olive: also Munera Pulveris; Pre-Raphaelitism; Aratra Pentelici; The Ethics of the Dust; Fiction, Fair and Foul; The Elements of Drawing· John Ruskin

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

Related words

the nātiō family

nation

nation — used about once every 163 pages · #1,499 · point at the bar for the others

← Vocabulary

nation

UK/ˈneɪʃən/US/ˈneɪʃən/

nounB1Very common — you will meet it every day · #1,499 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: nations

A nation is a country and the people who belong to it. The whole nation, a nation of readers, nation state.

Definitions of nation

1nounnationA country and the people who belong to it.B1
“The whole nation watched as the team lifted the trophy.”

nation is a people or country.

Where it comes from

Latin natio means a birth or a people, from nasci, to be born. Native, nature and nascent come from the same birth.

Middle English
nacioun
English, today
nation

Built from

nātiō · Latin — nation

From Middle English nacioun. From Middle English nacioun,nacion, from Old French nacion, from Latin nātiōnem, accusative of nātiō (“nation”). þēod.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

nation in the wild

In a more general sense, a nation-state is simply a large, politically sovereign country or administrative territory.
Nation state
Indeed, according to Thomas Hylland Eriksen, what distinguishes nations from other forms of collective identity, like ethnicity, is this very relationship with the state.
Nation
The law outlines a number of roles and responsibilities by which Israel is bound in order to fulfill the purpose of serving as the Jews' nation-state.
Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People
But in every nation, as I said, there are a vast class who are ill-educated, cowardly, and more or less stupid.
The Crown of Wild Olive: also Munera Pulveris; Pre-Raphaelitism; Aratra Pentelici; The Ethics of the Dust; Fiction, Fair and Foul; The Elements of Drawing· John Ruskin

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

Related words

the nātiō family

nation

nation — used about once every 163 pages · #1,499 · point at the bar for the others