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Ukraine

[yoo-kreyn, -krahyn, yoo-kreyn]
noun
  1. a republic in SE Europe: rich agricultural and industrial region. 223,090 sq. mi. (603,700 sq. km). Capital: Kiev.
Russian Ukraina.Formerly Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

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British Dictionary definitions for ukraine

Ukraine

noun
  1. a republic in SE Europe, on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov: ruled by the Khazars (7th–9th centuries), by Ruik princes with the Mongol conquest in the 13th century, then by Lithuania, by Poland, and by Russia; one of the four original republics that formed the Soviet Union in 1922; unilaterally declared independence in 1990, which was recognized in 1991. Consists chiefly of lowlands; economy based on rich agriculture and mineral resources and on the major heavy industries of the Donets Basin. Official language: Ukrainian; Russian is also widely spoken. Religion: believers are mainly Christian. Currency: hryvna. Capital: Kiev. Pop: 44 573 205 (2013 est). Area: 603 700 sq km (231 990 sq miles)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for ukraine

Ukraine

from Russian Ukraina, literally "border, frontier," from u- "at" + krai "edge."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
ukraine in Culture

Ukraine

[(yooh-krayn, yooh-krayn)]

Republic in southeastern Europe, bordered by Belarus to the north; Russia to the northeast and east; the Black Sea to the south; Moldova, Romania, and Hungary to the southwest; and Slovakia and Poland to the west; includes the peninsula of Crimea. Kiev is the capital and largest city.

Note

Of the former Soviet republics, it is second to Russia in population.

Note

Ukraine came under a succession of invaders and foreign rulers, including central Asian tribes, the Mongols, Lithuania, the Ottoman Empire, Poland, and finally Russia. Under oppressive Polish and Russian rule in the seventeenth century, Ukrainian fugitives, known as Cossacks, organized resistance movements.

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A nationalist and cultural revival in the nineteenth century was rewarded after World War I by independence, which was, however, short-lived. Invaded by Russian troops, Ukraine became one of the original Soviet republics in 1922.

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Ukraine was traditionally home to a large Jewish population. Many Jews (see also Jews) left Ukraine under oppressive conditions in the nineteenth century, and thousands more were exterminated by the Nazis in World War II.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.