Bulgaria

American  

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

noun

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

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Bulgaria British  

/ bʊl-, bʌlˈɡɛərɪə /

noun

1. 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)

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Bulgaria Cultural  

1. 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.

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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

"Bulgaria is becoming part of the European defence ecosystem," Radev said, on a visit to the Rheinmetall headquarters in Unterluss, Germany, in August 2025.

From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026

Rossen Ventzislavov is a philosopher and cultural critic from Bulgaria who lives in Los Angeles and teaches at Woodbury University.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026

The anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International has labelled Hungary as the EU's most corrupt country alongside Bulgaria in its Corruption Perceptions Index.

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

American refueling tankers have been seen in Romania and Bulgaria.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

The ship that she’s talking about is a vessel that her project discovered more than a mile below the surface in the Black Sea, off the coast of Bulgaria.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler