Britain

American  

[brit-n] / ˈbrɪt n /

noun

1. Great Britain.

2. Britannia.

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Britain British  

/ ˈbrɪtən /

noun

1. another name for Great Britain United Kingdom

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Britain Cultural  

1. Officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, located on the British Isles off the western coast of the mainland (continent) of Europe. It comprises England, Wales, and Scotland on the island of Great Britain, and Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland. Its capital and largest city is London.

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It is one of the world's leading industrialized nations.

Most of the settlers of the American colonies were British. The colonies remained under the British crown until the American Revolutionary War.

Britain declared war on Germany in 1939. Allied with the United States and the Soviet Union, the British, under the leadership of Winston Churchill, played an important role in defeating Germany.

At the height of its imperial power in the late nineteenth century, Britain boasted colonies and possessions around the globe. (See British Empire.)

A constitutional monarchy, Britain's government calls for the hereditary king or queen to perform mostly ceremonial functions. Parliament governs the country.

Compare meaning

How does britain compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Britain vs. Great Britain
• Britain vs. England

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Britain

France ceded it to Spain in 1764 after losing Canada to Britain, and with it the rationale for keeping the region.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

"From yesterday morning perhaps having the best management team in Britain we are losing them both."

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

A spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps compared the U.S. position in the Strait of Hormuz to that faced by Britain, France and Israel in that failed military effort.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

His father Peter was playing in the Premiership at the time, in the midst of a six-year stint in Britain during which he played for Northampton, Rotherham and Edinburgh.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

If Britain felt challenged by Germany’s aggressive push to become a world power, Germany felt threatened by France and Russia, its neighbors to the west and east.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman

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