Portugal
Americannoun
noun
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Portugal has been independent since the twelfth century, except for sixty years of Spanish rule in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
Portugal has been a member of NATO since 1949.
Famous for its explorers in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Portugal followed such exploration closely with colonization. By the middle of the sixteenth century, Portugal controlled a vast overseas empire, including Brazil.
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.
Best known for her powerful, haunting love song "Total Eclipse of the Heart", Tyler died in hospital in Portugal last month.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
"Following Fin Tarling's tragic passing on Friday, the NSN Development Team has withdrawn from the remaining Volta a Portugal stages," NSN said in a statement on Saturday morning.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Tyler, whose real name was Gaynor Hopkins, was born and raised in a traditional coal mining village northwest of Swansea, and divided her time between south Wales and Portugal in recent years.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus and Malta have been “falling over themselves to attract the wealthy,” says Douglas McWilliams, founder of the London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research, which does economic forecasting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
In Portugal, a survey was made of 400 skeletons from the period immediately predating the Agricultural Revolution.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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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.