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Australian

American  
[aw-streyl-yuhn] / ɔˈstreɪl jən /

adjective

  1. of or relating to Australia, its inhabitants, or their languages.

  2. Zoogeography. belonging to a geographical division comprising Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, Papua New Guinea, and adjacent smaller islands.

  3. Phytogeography. belonging or pertaining to a geographical division comprising Australia and Tasmania.


noun

Australians plural
  1. a native or inhabitant of Australia.

  2. an Aboriginal inhabitant of Australia.

  3. Also called Australian Aboriginal languages.  the group of languages of the Aborigines of Australia, consisting of about three hundred languages. Austral, Austral.

australian British  
/ ɒˈstreɪlɪən /

noun

  1. a native or inhabitant of Australia

  2. the form of English spoken in Australia

  3. a linguistic phylum consisting of the languages spoken by the native Australians

"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

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Australia, the Australians, or their form of English

  2. of, relating to, or belonging to the phylum of languages spoken by the native Australians

  3. of or denoting a zoogeographical region consisting of Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, New Guinea, and the Moluccas

"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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Etymology

Origin of Australian

First recorded in 1690–70 Australian for def. 5; Australi(a) + -an

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.

That's a question Sutherland, from the University of Aberdeen, and her Australian colleague have been examining.

From BBC • Jul. 11, 2026

Rio’s Australian iron-ore operations are recovering from the impact of tropical cyclones earlier in the year.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 10, 2026

The South Australian state government had implemented "enhanced surveillance" in the area where the bird was found, she said.

From Barron's • Jul. 10, 2026

The numbat, a small Australian marsupial once reduced to just a few hundred animals, is making a remarkable comeback thanks to decades of conservation work.

From BBC • Jul. 9, 2026

The best-studied case involves what happened when myxomatosis hit Australian rabbits.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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