Portugal

American  

[pawr-chuh-guhl, pohr-, pawr-too-gahl] / ˈpɔr tʃə gəl, ˈpoʊr-, ˌpɔr tʊˈgɑl /

noun

1. a republic in SW Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula, W of Spain. (Including the Azores and the Madeira Islands) 35,414 sq. mi. (91,720 sq. km). Lisbon.

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Portugal British  

/ ˈpɔːtjʊɡəl /

noun

1. a republic in SW Europe, on the Atlantic: became an independent monarchy in 1139 and expelled the Moors in 1249 after more than four centuries of Muslim rule; became a republic in 1910; under the dictatorship of Salazar from 1932 until 1968, when he was succeeded by Dr Caetano, who was overthrown by a junta in 1974; constitutional government restored in 1976. Portugal is a member of the European Union. Official language: Portuguese. Religion: Roman Catholic majority. Currency: euro. Capital: Lisbon. Pop: 10 799 270 (2013 est). Area: 91 831 sq km (35 456 sq miles)

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Portugal Cultural  

1. Republic in southwestern Europe, bordered by Spain to the north and east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south and west. Its capital and largest city is Lisbon.

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Portugal has been independent since the twelfth century, except for sixty years of Spanish rule in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

Portugal has been a member of NATO since 1949.

Famous for its explorers in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Portugal followed such exploration closely with colonization. By the middle of the sixteenth century, Portugal controlled a vast overseas empire, including Brazil.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Portugal

Portugal committed to a deep restructuring of the airline in 2021 in exchange for EU approval of 3.2 billion euros of public aid to keep it afloat.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

It wants to ensure that Lisbon remains a strategic hub for flights to Brazil and Africa, with its headquarters remaining in Portugal.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

German airline Lufthansa has won the contest to buy nearly half of TAP Air Portugal, the Portuguese prime minister said Wednesday, after months of efforts to privatise the state-rescued airline.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

Earlier this year, he was acquitted of 241 counts of illegally accessing email accounts belonging to a number of sports bodies in Portugal, including Benfica.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

Thanks to those remarkable men, plus others uncounted who died on the way, Angola has wrested itself free of Portugal and still owns its diamonds and oil wells.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver