NATO

American  

[ney-toh, en-ey-tee-oh] / ˈneɪ toʊ, ˈɛnˈeɪˈtiˈoʊ /

abbreviation

1. North Atlantic Treaty Organization: a political and military alliance established in 1949 in Washington, D.C., by 12 countries in Europe and North America for the purpose of collective defense against aggression, now comprising 32 member nations: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

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NATO British  

/ ˈneɪtəʊ /

acronym

1. North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an international organization composed of the US, Canada, Britain, and a number of European countries: established by the North Atlantic Treaty (1949) for purposes of collective security. In 1994 it launched the Partnership for Peace initiative, in order to forge alliances with former Warsaw Pact countries; in 1997 a treaty of cooperation with Russia was signed and in 1999 Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic became full NATO members

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Example Sentences

Mr. Leškevičius is a senior policy analyst at the center and a former Lithuanian ambassador to NATO.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026

Macron also weighed in the president’s grumbling about leaving NATO.

From Salon • Apr. 2, 2026

A law passed by Congress in 2023 prohibits a president from unilaterally withdrawing the U.S. from NATO.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

"NATO is stronger today than it has ever been," he said last week.

From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026

In   1945 Turkey joined the UN, and in 1952 it became a member of NATO.

From The 2003 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency