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Australian

American  
[aw-strayl-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.

See Examples For:

“Of particular interest for us was the upgrade provided for the Australian assets, which have faced a deterioration in East Asian spreads over the recent weeks,” says the broker.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026

Andre McKechnie argued that the ban, in place since 2006, denied him the right to "enjoy his culture as an Australian".

From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026

"Western Sydney is home to more than 2.5 million people and it's a further gateway for Australian visitors to discover everything our country has to offer."

From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026

Later this summer, the Australian government discovered that OpenAI’s bots had “infiltrated” its healthcare portal.

From Slate ● Oct. 25, 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

I'm watching the men's high jump and theres an australian athlete called Brandon Starc.

From Time ● Aug. 15, 2016

Cant sleep so im loving the australian open coverage.

From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2010

Even the australian open website's scoreboard is down.

From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2010

For more information visit www.ferrarapan.com As any australian diplomat will admit, managing the bilateral relationship with China is a relentless, high- energy task.

From Time Magazine Archive

"I think that Australians do want to see their politicians be able to go about their business, to be able to get something from the back of their car, for goodness sake," he said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026

This might lead Australians to think Adidas is associated with White Fox and has approved of the design, the documents claim.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

"The way the Australians were caught was an absolute fluke," Alvin Naicker, in charge of SuperSport's live broadcast from Newlands, tells BBC Sport.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Bowden-Kerby urged visiting Australians to see the dead reefs for themselves.

From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026

Germs thus acquired ultimately from domestic animals played decisive roles in the European conquests of Native Americans, Australians, South Africans, and Pacific islanders.

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

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