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.

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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

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Latin America Cultural  

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

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Other Word Forms

• Latin American adjective

Etymology

Origin of Latin America

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Latin America revenue jumped 22% to $1.1 billion, and Europe and Africa revenue rose 11% to $858 million.

From Barron's • Apr. 21, 2026

Riskier, and higher-yielding, credits are concentrated in Latin America, where Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador are oil exporters.

From Barron's • Apr. 20, 2026

To that end, both within and beyond the movement known as Liberation Theology, many Latin Catholics promote visions of solidarity, inclusion, anticolonialism and anticapitalism to increase the church’s appeal across Latin America.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026

The clothing is either sold locally, or exported to other countries in Latin America.

From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026

Within two years, there was no Soviet Empire to hide behind anymore or to prop up autocratic regimes in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, or Latin America.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman