Belarus

American

[byel-uh-roos, bel-] / ˌbjɛl əˈrus, ˌbɛl- /

noun

Formerly White Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. a republic in eastern Europe, north of Ukraine: formerly a part of the Soviet Union. 80,154 sq. mi. (207,600 sq. km). Minsk.

Belarus British

/ ˈbɛləˌrʌs, ˌbɛl-, -ˌrʊs /

noun

Also called: Byelorussian Republic, Bielorussia, White Russia. a republic in E Europe; part of the medieval Lithuanian and Polish empires before being occupied by Russia; a Soviet republic (1919–91); in 1997 formed a close political and economic union with Russia: mainly low-lying and forested. Languages: Belarussian; Russian. Religion: believers are mostly Christian. Currency: rouble. Capital: Minsk. Pop: 9 625 888 (2013 est). Area: 207 600 sq km (80 134 sq miles)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Belarus Cultural

Republic in eastern Europe, bordered to the northwest by Russia, Lithuania, and Latvia, to the northeast, east, and southeast by Russia, to the south by Ukraine, and to the west by Poland. Its capital and largest city is Minsk.

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Belarus is also known as White Russia or Belorussia.

This former member of the Soviet Union declared its independence in 1991.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Belarus

After travelling through Russian-occupied territory to southern Russia, then flying to Belarus, evacuees arrived on busses to a military facility in Chernihiv on Saturday.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

Residents of the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, ravaged by years of war, arrived in Ukraine on Saturday after being evacuated via Belarus during a rare truce brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump.

From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026

People evacuated from the devastated Russian-occupied city of Oleshky were reunited with their loved ones after crossing from Belarus into Ukraine on Saturday.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

Feygin’s mother grew up in Belarus, where she built a makeshift bathhouse from a tarp and generated steam with a woodstove.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026

I was born in Narewka, a rural village in northeastern Poland, near Białystok, not far from the border with Belarus.

From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023