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.

“There was a lot of nation-building happening during World War II,” said Ujammiugaq Engell, leader of Nuuk Local Museum.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

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

From Barron's • Feb. 13, 2026

To many Australians though, it is celebrated as a day of nation-building and achievement.

From BBC • Jan. 23, 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

For years they stuck so closely to their nation-building that they had no time to stand back and view the size of the edifice of their own structure, but all that is different to-day.

From The Canadian Commonwealth by Laut, Agnes C. (Agnes Christina)

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