Latin America

American  

[lat-n uh-mer-i-kuh] / ˈlæt n əˈmɛr ɪ kə /

noun

1. the part of the American continents south of the United States in which Spanish, Portuguese, or French is officially spoken.

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Latin America British  

noun

1. those areas of America whose official languages are Spanish and Portuguese, derived from Latin: South America, Central America, Mexico, and certain islands in the Caribbean

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Latin America Cultural  

1. A term applied to all of the Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking nations south of the United States.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Latin American
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Latin America

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Officials in the US and in Latin America have been combating the problem of screwworms for much of the past six decades, with limited success.

From BBC • Jun. 5, 2026

Latino storytellers and those from Latin America, at the TCL Chinese Theatre complex in Hollywood.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2026

In sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and other low-income regions, relatively few people receive dialysis or kidney transplants.

From Science Daily • May 29, 2026

One beneficiary of the turmoil in the Middle East is Latin America, whose oil and gas production is growing fast.

From Barron's • May 28, 2026

In many parts of Latin America there is a resentment, abundantly justified, of U.S. workers with big budgets swooping in to profit from the work of poor local scholars.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann