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

See Examples For:

Latin America

“The inflation pressures among services remain intense and disseminated,” as services inflation moderated to 5.47% in August from 5.85% in July, Goldman Sachs’s Latin America economist Alberto Ramos said in a note.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Outside of Latin America, 12% of the murders occurred in Asia, with Philippines top of the list with 12 documented murders.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wraps up a whirlwind tour of Latin America in Peru on Thursday, deepening cooperation with a new bloc of conservative governments and pressing the fight against regional drug cartels.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

"The countries of Latin America have the sovereign right to freely choose their partners and to develop external cooperation based on their own national interests," the embassy wrote on X.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 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