nation-building

British

noun

the advocacy of national solidarity in South Africa in the post-apartheid era

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"We will join the nation-building effort led by Tarique Rahman," Md Fazlur Rahman, 45, told AFP.

From Barron's • Feb. 13, 2026

The approach might be called “nation-coaching” rather than nation-building, said Javier Corrales, a political scientist whose research at Amherst College has focused on democracy and Latin America.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 12, 2026

Last week, the prime minister unveiled the first series of "nation-building" projects that Ottawa will review for fast-track approvals - a key part of his wider economic agenda.

From BBC • Sep. 15, 2025

At the founding, and the court endorsed a regime of nation-building in which the mix between government and markets supported an emerging economic nation.

From Slate • May 30, 2024

Are we not as a people too prone to minimise the great nation-building work performed by the scattered missionaries in the lone lands beyond the railway?

From The New North by Cameron, Agnes Deans

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023