Uruguay

American  

[yoor-uh-gwey, -gwahy, oo-roo-gwahy] / ˈjʊər əˌgweɪ, -ˌgwaɪ, ˌu ruˈgwaɪ /

noun

1. a republic in southeastern South America. 72,172 sq. mi. (186,925 sq. km). Montevideo.

2. a river in southeastern South America, flowing from southern Brazil along the boundary of eastern Argentina into the Río de la Plata. 981 miles (1,580 km) long.

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Uruguay British  

/ ˈjʊərəˌɡwaɪ /

noun

1. a republic in South America, on the Atlantic: Spanish colonization began in 1624, followed by Portuguese settlement in 1680; revolted against Spanish rule in 1820 but was annexed by the Portuguese to Brazil; gained independence in 1825. It consists mainly of rolling grassy plains, low hills, and plateaus. Official language: Spanish. Religion: Roman Catholic majority. Currency: peso. Capital: Montevideo. Pop: 3 324 460 (2013 est). Area: 176 215 sq km (68 037 sq miles)

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Uruguay Cultural  

1. Republic on the east coast of South America, tucked between Brazil to the north and east and Argentina to the west. The capital and largest city is Montevideo.

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Discover More

It is a major producer of beef, leather, and wool.

Uruguay was under a repressive and violent military government from 1973 to 1985.

Other Word Forms

• Uruguayan
  adjective
• anti-Uruguayan
  adjective
• pro-Uruguayan
  adjective

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Uruguay

Deteriorating conditions are driving thousands of young people to emigrate to Brazil and Uruguay, said Everleny.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

Araujo made his debut for Uruguay in 2020 and has been capped 27 times for his country.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

She joined Dow Jones after previously reporting from Uruguay, where she worked at Agence-France Presse as an editor and video journalist.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana suffered a serious knee injury while representing Belgium, while Manchester United and Uruguay defensive midfielder Manuel Ugarte saw his tournament cut short by injury.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

There were kids from Uruguay and Korea who had just learned English but were doing extra credit for the current events stuff in Intro to Wall Street, reading Barron’s and Crain’s Business Daily.

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini