Taiwan
Americannoun
noun
Discover More
With its first free elections in the 1990s, Taiwan has become a democracy. Its economy is among the strongest in the world.
The United States long supported the Nationalists but broke relations in 1979 to establish relations with the People's Republic of China.
China refuses to accept Taiwan's independence as a nation, viewing it instead as merely a renegade province of China. This issue continues to complicate relations between the United States and China.
When the Chinese communists came to power on the mainland, the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek and some of his army took refuge on Taiwan.
Etymology
Origin of Taiwan
First recorded in 1920–25; from Chinese (Mandarin) Táiwān
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.
A few years ago a retired four-star general assured this newspaper’s editorial board that the U.S. could deter China over Taiwan as it once had the Soviet Union in Europe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Anthropic’s third-quarter revenue grew sharply, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chip maker, posted another record profit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, posted a record quarter for profit as demand for artificial-intelligence infrastructure continued to surge, with Chairman and CEO C.C.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is forecast to report booming profit but the real intrigue comes in its talks with Elon Musk over his Terafab project.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
The room was already studded with five sets of brass candlesticks from Taiwan.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
![]()
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.