compatriot
Americannoun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of compatriot
From the Late Latin word compatriōta, dating back to 1605–15. See com-, patriot
Explanation
A compatriot is a person from the same country as you. Don't confuse it with patriot, which means someone with notable love for his country. The word compatriot is often used to suggest an automatic sense of friendship. All compatriots are assumed to be chummy with each other — though, in fact, there's nothing in the dictionary definition to suggest this. Compatriots may — and often do — loathe each other, as countless civil wars have demonstrated.
Vocabulary lists containing compatriot
Not Your Father's Word List: Pater, Patr
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Outliers
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Fidel Castro (1926-2016) Memorial List
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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.
See Examples For:
Rediscovered and appropriately acclaimed, Zurbarán is spoken of today as an equal of his compatriot and contemporary Diego Velázquez.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Versus Norway, it wasn’t Mbappé, but compatriot Ousmane Dembélé who piled on the scoring with a first-half hat trick.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Kang, who also owns women's teams Washington Spirit in the United States and London City Lionesses in England, took over as club president from compatriot Textor in June 2025.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
It means her compatriot Leylah Fernandez and Germany's Laura Siegemund, who they were scheduled to face in the doubles on Thursday evening, advance to the semi-finals.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
The man who hung back joined his compatriot.
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
He was a top British junior but chose to sharpen his game for three years in the U.S. collegiate system at Stanford, as many of his compatriots have done.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
On Friday, Sept. 10, 1976, a Croat named Zvonko Bušić, his wife, Julienne, and three compatriots boarded a plane bound for Chicago.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
He and his compatriots were taken away by police shortly after.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
But where other artists might have spiraled, White and his compatriots transcended, turning inward while also looking to the stars.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026
Perhaps just as important, Stalin and his compatriots found the prospect of “shattering” and “retraining” genes via shock therapy satisfying ideologically.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
