Bulgaria

American

[buhl-gair-ee-uh, bool-] / bʌlˈgɛər i ə, bʊl- /

noun

a republic in SE Europe. 42,800 sq. mi. (110,850 sq. km). Sofia.

Bulgaria British

/ bʊl-, bʌlˈɡɛərɪə /

noun

a republic in SE Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula on the Black Sea: under Turkish rule from 1395 until 1878; became an independent kingdom in 1908 and a republic in 1946; joined the EU in 2007; consists chiefly of the Danube valley in the north and the Balkan Mountains in the central part, separated from the Rhodope Mountains of the south by the valley of the Maritsa River. Language: Bulgarian. Religion: Christian (Bulgarian Orthodox) majority. Currency: lev. Capital: Sofia. Pop: 6 981 642 (2013 est). Area: 110 911 sq km (42 823 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

Bulgaria Cultural

Republic in southeastern Europe in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, bordered by Romania to the north, the Black Sea to the east, Turkey to the southeast, Greece to the south, and Macedonia and Yugoslavia to the west. Its capital and largest city is Sofia.

Discover More

Former Eastern Bloc country. Soviet troops entered Bulgaria in 1944, and a communist government was established soon thereafter. Bulgaria's communist rulers followed the Soviet lead for almost fifty years, until the collapse of the Soviet Union. In January 1991, a multiparty government began to institute democratic and economic reforms.

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.

See Examples For:

Bulgaria

This has led to unusual discoveries on the river bed, including the bones of a mammoth in Bulgaria and a sunken WW2 warship in Serbia.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

Next year's contest will be held in Bulgaria, after their entrant Dara won the 2026 edition with her club anthem Bangaranga.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey all front onto the Black Sea, an arena of drone combat by both Ukraine and Russia.

From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026

In Bulgaria, a cruise ship got stuck on a sandbank on the Danube.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

The trip was paid for from the $5,000 appearance fee he was getting to compete for the United States in the Olympiad in Varna, Bulgaria.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

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