Colombia

American  

[kuh-luhm-bee-uh, kaw-lawm-byah] / kəˈlʌm bi ə, kɔˈlɔm byɑ /

noun

1. a republic in northwestern South America. 439,828 sq. mi. (1,139,155 sq. km). Bogotá.

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Colombia British  

/ kəˈlɒmbɪə /

noun

1. a republic in NW South America: inhabited by Chibchas and other Indians before Spanish colonization in the 16th century; independence won by Bolívar in 1819; became the Republic of Colombia in 1886; violence and unrest have been endemic since the 1970s. It consists chiefly of a hot swampy coastal plain, separated by ranges of the Andes from the pampas and the equatorial forests of the Amazon basin in the east. Language: Spanish. Religion: Roman Catholic majority. Currency: peso. Capital: Bogotá. Pop: 45 745 783 (2013 est). Area: 1 138 908 sq km (439 735 sq miles)

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Colombia Cultural  

1. Republic in northwestern South America, bordered by Panama to the northwest, Venezuela to the northeast, Ecuador and Peru to the south, and Brazil to the southeast. Its capital and largest city is Bogotá.

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Discover More

Trafficking of marijuana and cocaine remains a problem in Colombia. With support from the United States, the Colombian government has attacked drug traffickers, but the country continues to be torn by civil war between left-wing and right-wing factions.

Its major legal crop is coffee.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Colombian
  adjective

Example Sentences

In downtown Mexico City, street vendors hawk pirated goods on the sidewalks, with team shirts for Mexico, Argentina and Colombia selling for $10-$20, roughly one-tenth the price of an official shirt for Mexico's national team.

From Barron's • Jun. 6, 2026

Among the countries spotlighted are Brazil, Mexico, Honduras, Portugal, Colombia, Croatia, El Salvador, France and Japan — though she is planning to add African countries to the lineup.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026

Researchers led by the University of Exeter, working with partners in Colombia and the United States, created a new computer model to examine how sea-level rise could affect carbon storage across entire mangrove forests.

From Science Daily • Jun. 5, 2026

For this global tournament, the Santa Ana local has handcrafted dresses, halter tops, bikinis and mini balloon skirts for select countries including Mexico, Colombia, Italy, Spain, Brazil and Argentina.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026

Colombia by no means has the highest PDI, by the way.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell