Laos

[ lah-ohs, lous, ley-os; French la-aws ]

noun

1. a country in Southeast Asia: formerly part of French Indochina. 91,500 sq. mi. (236,985 sq. km). : Vientiane.

Laos

/ laʊs; laʊz /

noun

1. a republic in SE Asia: first united as the kingdom of Lan Xang ("million elephants") in 1353, after being a province of the Khmer Empire for about four centuries; made part of French Indochina in 1893 and gained independence in 1949; became a republic in 1975. It is generally forested and mountainous, with the Mekong River running almost the whole length of the W border. Official language: Laotian. Religion: Buddhist majority, tribal religions. Currency: kip. Capital: Vientiane. Pop: 6 695 166 (2013 est). Area: 236 800 sq km (91 429 sq miles) Official namePeople's Democratic Republic of Laos

Laos

1. Mountainous, landlocked republic in Southeast Asia , bordered by Burma to the northwest, China to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. Its capital and largest city is Vientiane.

Notes

Civil war among communist and noncommunist factions in the 1950s and 1960s attracted extensive covert aid from the Soviet Union , China, and the United States.

During the Vietnam War , Vietnamese communists established the Ho Chi Minh Trail through the remote mountains of Laos to channel troops and supplies from North Vietnam to South Vietnam.

The communist Pathet Lao, with long-standing close ties to the Vietnamese communists, have been in power since 1975.

Part of French Indochina from 1893 to 1949, it was granted full sovereignty in 1954.

Example Sentences

Scientists have discovered another clue to the origins of the virus that causes Covid-19, with bats living in caves in Laos found to be carrying a similar pathogen that experts suggest could potentially infect humans directly.

From TechCrunch

In Laos, less than 6% of people have received their first dose.

From Time

The Hmong are an ethnic group that come from the mountains of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand but don’t have a country of their own, and Xiong was a volunteer organizer at Hmong Innovating Politics, or HIP, in Fresno.

From MIT Technology Review

Workers who cleaned bat feces in that cave, located in Yunnan Province near the border with Laos, went on to develop severe respiratory disease, and one of them died.

From MIT Technology Review

Born in Tulsa to immigrants from Laos, Yang spent more than a decade in the Midwest as a college assistant after graduating from Missouri State.

From Washington Post

Compared with neighbors Myanmar, Vietnam, and Laos, Cambodia appears to have a blossoming civil society.

From The Daily Beast

He was pursued by law-enforcement officials from Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and China.

From The Daily Beast

Later she founded an NGO that operates safe havens for victims of the sex trade in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos.

From The Daily Beast

Also tied, Kazakhstan and Bhutan are happier than Moldova, but sadder than Laos.

From The Daily Beast

“She will tell the court, otherwise she will stay here,” Nuanthasing told reporters in Laos.

From The Daily Beast

The upper half of the river Menam is occupied by what are called the Laú, or Laos.

From Project Gutenberg

The idol is said to have fallen from heaven into one of the Laos states.

From Project Gutenberg

In the thirty-eight villages in which they live there are neither Shans nor Laos.

From Project Gutenberg

Tradition has it that it fell from heaven into one of the Laos states, being captured by the Siamese in battle.

From Project Gutenberg

With him begins our real knowledge of the interior of Siam, and its partly dependent neighbors Laos and Cambodia.

From Project Gutenberg