Wiktionary

nation

See also: nâtion and Nation

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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  • enPR: nā'shən, IPA(key): /ˈneɪʃən/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Etymology 1

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From Middle English nacioun, nacion, from Old French nacion, from Latin nātiōnem, accusative of nātiō (“nation”). Displaced native Old English þēod.

Noun

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nation (plural nations)

  2. (collective) A historically constituted, stable community of people, formed based on a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and/or psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.
    Coordinate term: (sometimes synonymous) people
    The Roma are a nation without a country.
    pre-Columbian nations
    1. (by extension, informal, often humorous) A community united by some trait (especially an interest) but not historically constituted.
      the Dallas Cowboys nation
      • 2016 May 5, Johansson Anna, “5 Marketing Tips for Reaching the DIY Generation”, in Entrepreneur‎[1], retrieved 2023-12-21:
        Did Pinterest create a culture of do-it-yourselfers, or did the DIY nation create Pinterest? The answer may not be certain, but we do know that a lot of customers love to do things on their own.
  3. (international law, metonymic) A sovereign state; (loosely, metonymic, proscribed) a country.
    Though legally single nations, many states comprise several distinct cultural or ethnic groups.
    • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly‎[2], volume 188, number 26, page 36:
      It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]:  […] perhaps to muse on the irrelevance of the borders that separate nation states and keep people from understanding their shared environment.
    • 2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 1:18 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron‎[3], archived from the original on 29 November 2024:
      By the start of the 19th century, Europe was neckdeep in the Napoleonic Wars, which, at various times, amounted to the British Empire against Europe, and, at others, involved Britain subsidising various nations, such as Austria and Prussia, against Napoleon.
  4. (chiefly historical) An association of students based on the birthplace or ethnicity of its members.
    Synonym: student nation
    Once widespread across Europe in medieval times, nations are now largely restricted to the ancient universities of Sweden and Finland.
  5. (obsolete) A great number; a great deal.
  6. In North America, an Indigenous people and their federally recognized territory.
    The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United States and the second-largest Indian reservation in area.
Usage notes
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  • (British) Following the establishment of the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, England, Scotland and Wales are normally considered distinct nations. Application of the term nation to the United Kingdom as a whole is deprecated in most style guides, including the BBC, most newspapers and in UK Government publications. Northern Ireland, being of less clear legal status, generally remains a province.
Derived terms
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Terms derived from nation
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Terms etymologically related to nation
Translations
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See also
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Etymology 2

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Short for damnation or tarnation.

Alternative forms

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Noun

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nation

  1. (rare) Damnation. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Adverb

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nation

  1. (rare, dialectal) Extremely, very.

References

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  • “Notable and Quotable”, in Merriam Webster Online Newsletter‎[4], 2005 November, archived from the original on 14 March 2006.

Anagrams

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Danish

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Etymology

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From Latin nātiō (“birth, people”), derived from the verb nāscor (“to be born”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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nation c (singular definite nationen, plural indefinite nationer)

  1. a nation, a people with a common identity, united in history, culture or language
  2. a nation, a country that is a politically independent unity

Declension

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Declension of nation
common
gender 		singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative nation nationen nationer nationerne
genitive nations nationens nationers nationernes

References

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French

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French Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fr

Etymology

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Inherited from Middle French nation, from Old French nacion, borrowed from Latin nātiōnem.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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nation f (plural nations)

  1. nation

Derived terms

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References

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Anagrams

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Middle French

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Etymology

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From Old French nacion.

Noun

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nation f (plural nations)

  1. nation

Descendants

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  • French: nation

Swedish

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Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv

Pronunciation

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Noun

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nation c

  1. a nation, a country, a state
  2. a nation, a people
    tala till nationen
    address the nation
  3. a union or fraternity of students from the same province

Declension

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Declension of nation
nominative genitive
singular indefinite nation nations
definite nationen nationens
plural indefinite nationer nationers
definite nationerna nationernas
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References

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