a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own.
The president spoke to the nation about the new tax.
the territory or country itself.
the nations of Central America.
a member tribe of an American Indian confederation.
an aggregation of persons of the same ethnic family, often speaking the same language or cognate languages.
an aggregation of people or peoples of one or more cultures, races, etc, organized into a single state
the Australian nation
a community of persons not constituting a state but bound by common descent, language, history, etc
the French-Canadian nation
a federation of tribes, esp American Indians
the territory occupied by such a federation
See race 2.
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Latin nātiōn- (stem of nātiō ) “birth, tribe,” equivalent to nāt(us) (past participle of nāscī “to be born”) + -iōn- -ion
A nation is a country and its people. It's also the word used for the Native American tribal federations in the US — the Cherokee Nation, for instance — which have their own governments and territories. Nation comes from the Latin root nat-, which means "born" — the neonatal unit in a hospital is where the newborn babies are cared for. You can also use nation more loosely for ethnic or religious groups: you might speak of "the Jewish nation," meaning not just the country, or nation, of Israel, but Jews all over the world. The Nation of Islam is an African-American Muslim group.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This is a problem for the activity levels and the health of the nation; it's a problem for all our future.
From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026
On the evidence of the Scots' warm-up displays, there are signs they can achieve that against a similarly-ranked nation this weekend.
From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026
“How can you not be excited about the host nation training in your facility?” said Dan Rutstein, president of business operations of the Orange County club.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026
It created a nation that, soon after its creation, was the world’s “most egalitarian,” and “remains so today.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026
Suddenly we realized that in order to lead our nation forward and keep the world safe, we would have to write our own.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
