Latin America

American  

[lat-n uh-mer-i-kuh] / ˈlæt n əˈmɛr ɪ kə /

noun

1. the part of the American continents south of the United States in which Spanish, Portuguese, or French is officially spoken.

---

Latin America British  

noun

1. those areas of America whose official languages are Spanish and Portuguese, derived from Latin: South America, Central America, Mexico, and certain islands in the Caribbean

---

Latin America Cultural  

1. A term applied to all of the Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking nations south of the United States.

---

Other Word Forms

• Latin American
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Latin America

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

The EU is Mexico's third largest trading partner, while Mexico is the bloc's second biggest trading partner in Latin America after Brazil.

From Barron's • May 22, 2026

"In some ways it might be easier to extract him," said Adam Isacson, a regional expert with the Washington Office on Latin America, an NGO.

From BBC • May 21, 2026

The London-listed credit-reporting agency’s accelerating organic growth was attributable to a strong performance in its North America business-to-business unit and the recovery observed in that same segment in Latin America, they say.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026

The study relied on 19,283 high-quality fluke photographs collected between 1984 and 2025 from eastern Australia and Latin America.

From Science Daily • May 20, 2026

But the real danger, from the U.S. government’s point of view, was that Castro would spread his revolution through Latin America and beyond.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin