Russia
Americannoun
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Official Name Russian Federation. a republic since 1991, the largest country in the world by area, extending from eastern Europe to northern and western Asia. 6,593,000 square miles (17,076,000 square kilometers). Moscow.
noun
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the largest country in the world, covering N Eurasia and bordering on the Pacific and Arctic Oceans and the Baltic, Black, and Caspian Seas: originating from the principality of Muscovy in the 17th century, it expanded to become the Russian Empire; the Tsar was overthrown in 1917 and the Communist Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was created; this merged with neighbouring Soviet Republics in 1922 to form the Soviet Union; on the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 the Russian Federation was established as an independent state. Official language: Russian. Religion: nonreligious and Russian orthodox Christian. Currency: rouble. Capital: Moscow. Pop: 142 500 482 (2013 est). Area: 17 074 984 sq km (6 592 658 sq miles)
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another name for the Russian Empire
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another name for the former Soviet Union
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another name for the former Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
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Russia now occupies the seat on the Security Council of the United Nations formerly held by the Soviet Union.
Peter the Great, a czar who reigned in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, attempted to westernize Russian government and culture.
Russia was ruled by czars of the Romanov family from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries.
During the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks, under Lenin, took control of the government; communists governed from 1917 until 1991.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Russia
First recorded in 1730–40; from Medieval Latin Russī (nominative plural masculine) “Russians” + -ia noun suffix; see origin at Russ 1 ( def. ), -ia
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.
Using crowdsourcing techniques, VroniPlag Wiki in Germany and Dissernet in Russia have exposed numerous instances of plagiarism by public servants in their dissertations and academic publications.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
Hundreds of thousands of men left Russia, leading to a rush on airline tickets and hourslong lines to cross the border into neighboring countries such as Georgia and Kazakhstan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Asked whether he missed his old job, the 35-year-old replied "No", citing the relentless stress of managing Ukraine's war with Russia while transforming its defence ministry.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
South Korea's foreign ministry declined to comment when asked by AFP about the concerns involving Russia.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
But a smaller group of Allies had been helping each other out on the Eastern Front in Russia for some time now.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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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.