Australia

American  

[aw-streyl-yuh] / ɔˈstreɪl yə /

noun

1. a continent southeast of Asia, between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. 2,948,366 square miles (7,636,270 square kilometers).

2. Commonwealth of Australia, a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, consisting of the federated states and territories of Australia and Tasmania. 2,974,581 square miles (7,704,165 square kilometers). Canberra.

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Australia British  

/ ɒˈstreɪlɪə /

noun

1. a country and the smallest continent, situated between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific: a former British colony, now an independent member of the Commonwealth, constitutional links with Britain formally abolished in 1986; consists chiefly of a low plateau, mostly arid in the west, with the basin of the Murray River and the Great Dividing Range in the east and the Great Barrier Reef off the NE coast. Official language: English. Religion: Christian majority. Currency: dollar. Capital: Canberra. Pop: 23 029 674 (2013 est). Area: 7 682 300 sq km (2 966 150 sq miles)

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Australia Cultural  

1. Nation occupying the whole of Australia, the smallest continent, between the Indian Ocean and the southwest Pacific Ocean. Its capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney.

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Discover More

The first settlements there were penal colonies for British convicts.

Its aboriginal tribes, which still exist today (see aborigines), are thought to have migrated from Southeast Asia twenty thousand years ago.

Compare meaning

How does australia compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Oceania vs. Australia

Example Sentences

AB announced the “blockchain” resort in East Timor, a poor island nation north of Australia, in June 2025.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

England have underachieved in global tournaments since 2017 and will start this one no better than third favourites behind Australia and India.

From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026

Tiger parts are smuggled to India, Myanmar, China, Malaysia, and even further to buyers in Australia, Britain and Germany, Uddin said.

From Barron's • Apr. 28, 2026

And we have agreed the most ambitious submarine program in history—Aukus—in partnership with Australia, a country of which I am also immensely proud to serve as sovereign.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

They thereby completely changed the ecology of large parts of Australia within a few short millennia.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari