i Register
In some senses, nation is marked as informal, obsolete, humorous, historical, rare. Watch for register when choosing this word.
nation
UK /ˈneɪʃən/ US /ˈneɪʃən/
noun 6adv 1adj 1name 1
Definitions
noun
1
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.
The Roma are a nation without a country.
pre-Columbian nations
2
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.
Near-synonym: tribe
the Dallas Cowboys nation
3
A sovereign state; (loosely, metonymic, proscribed) a country.
Though legally single nations, many states comprise several distinct cultural or ethnic groups.
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.
4
An association of students based on the birthplace or ethnicity of its members.
Once widespread across Europe in medieval times, nations are now largely restricted to the ancient universities of Sweden and Finland.
5
A great number; a great deal.
[…]and what a nation of herbs he had procured to mollify her humours, &c. &c.[…]
noun
1
Damnation.
... what the nation's the matter of that boy now ? If he's got them highsterics ag'in , I'll blister him from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet , sure as he's a - livin ' . " The doctor took up his hat and started out to meet[…]
O nation!.. if I were a man, […]
adv
1
Extremely, very.
“Looky here, Bilgewater,” he says, “I’m nation sorry for you, but you ain’t the only person that’s had troubles like that.”
"Beleddy, Mester, yo're a dab hand at axing questions, at ony rate! One has to look back a 'nation long way into one's books to find what yo I axen after.
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