Poland

[poh-luhnd]

noun

1. a republic in eastern central Europe, on the Baltic Sea. About 121,000 sq. mi. (313,400 sq. km). Warsaw.

Poland

/ ˈpəʊlənd /

noun

1. Polish name: Polska. a republic in central Europe, on the Baltic: first united in the 10th century; dissolved after the third partition effected by Austria, Russia, and Prussia in 1795; re-established independence in 1918; invaded by Germany in 1939; ruled by a Communist government from 1947 to 1989, when a multiparty system was introduced; joined the EU in 2004. It consists chiefly of a low undulating plain in the north, rising to a low plateau in the south, with the Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains along the S border. Official language: Polish. Religion: Roman Catholic majority. Currency: złoty. Capital: Warsaw. Pop: 38 383 809 (2013 est). Area: 311 730 sq km (120 359 sq miles)

Poland

1. Republic in central Europe, bordered by the Baltic Sea and Russia to the north, Lithuania to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, The Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, and Germany to the west. Its capital and largest city is Warsaw.

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

For decades, more countries across the region, from Poland to Romania, have looked west to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization rather than East.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In recent weeks, tensions have escalated between the EU and Russia, after Poland and Romania - both Nato members - said Russian drones had breached their airspace.

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Last month, Russian drones were detected inside Poland’s airspace, and three Russian fighter jets entered Estonian airspace without permission, amid other sightings.

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Much of the grain and iron ore exports that Ukraine's economy depends on is moved by train to the southern Black Sea ports, and westward through Poland.

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The Biden Administration early in the war appeared panicked about Poland donating even some old MiG jets to Ukraine and then waited more than a year to train Ukrainian pilots on the F-16.

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