Poland
Americannoun
noun
Discover More
In 1952, Poland became a people's republic on the Soviet model.
During World War II, about six million Poles, including three million Jews (see also Jews), died from German massacres, starvation, and execution in concentration camps such as Auschwitz.
Poland joined NATO in 1999.
Poland was a great power from the fourteenth through the seventeenth centuries, but in the eighteenth century it was partitioned three times among Austria, Prussia, and Russia. It was again recognized as an independent state in 1919.
In 1989, Solidarity-backed candidates swept to victory in free elections, but Solidarity subsequently declined sharply as a political force.
The Solidarity movement, which demanded greater worker control in Poland, emerged in the early 1980s as one of the first signs of popular discontent with single-party rule and the communist economic system.
The invasion of Poland by Germany in 1939 precipitated World War II.
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.
The honorary consul of Poland in Northern Ireland, Jerome Mullen, said he had never experienced such a tragedy in his 18 years in the job.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
The company has been selling off its international consumer banking divisions, having recently closed sales in Poland and scaled back their operations in Mexico.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
With Ukrainian airspace closed, the trip to Kyiv required an overnight train from Poland, a roughly 10-hour journey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
But as party president he had been growing into the role of stand-in candidate - even going on a statesman-like visit to Poland last month.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
The Germans continue to strike Poland hard and fast, in a new kind of warfare called a Blitzkrieg, a lightning-fast war.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
![]()
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.