nationality

UK/ˌnæʃ.əˈnæl.ɪ.ti/US/ˌnæʃ.əˈnæl.ɪ.ti/

nounA2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,017 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: nationalities

Nationality is the country a person legally belongs to. What the passport says.

It is a legal status rather than a feeling, which is why it differs from ethnicity and from where somebody was born. Dual nationality means holding two, and some countries permit it while others do not. Forms ask for it constantly. The word is also used more loosely to mean national identity, as in people of several nationalities, and that use is about origin rather than paperwork. Citizenship is the near synonym in law.

Definitions of nationality

1nounnationalityThe legal status of belonging to a particular nation.A2+
“She holds dual nationality.”

Where it comes from

Latin
nātio — nation, people
French
nationalité
English, today
nationality

From national + -ity, perhaps after French nationalité; ultimately from Latin nātio (“nation, people”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 30 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

nationality in the wild

In international law, nationality is a legal identification establishing the person as a subject, a national, of a sovereign state.
Nationality
However, nationality differs technically and legally from citizenship, which is a different legal relationship between a person and a country.
Nationality
Jus soli, meaning 'right of soil', is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship.
Jus soli
Jus sanguinis, meaning 'right of blood', is a principle of nationality law by which nationality is determined or acquired by the nationality of one or both parents.
Jus sanguinis
Some such children may acquire the nationality automatically while others may need to apply for a parent's nationality.
Jus sanguinis

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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.

Related words

the nātio family

nation

nationality — used about once every 4,101 pages · #9,017 · point at the bar for the others

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