country

Meaning

1. The territory of a nation, especially an independent nation state or formerly independent nation; a political entity asserting ultimate authority over a geographical area; a sovereign state.
2. A set region of land having particular human occupation or agreed limits, especially inhabited by members of the same race, speakers of the same language etc., or associated with a given person, occupation, species etc.
3. A rural area, as opposed to a town or city; the countryside.
4. An area of land; a district, region.
5. Traditional lands of Indigenous people with embedded cultural, spiritual, cosmological, ecological, and physical attributes and values.
6. Ellipsis of country music.
7. The rock through which a vein runs.

land

nation

rural area

native country

commonwealth

keep within bounds

area of government

country estate

good things of life

territory of a chief

solid ground

the world

soil dug out to form a grave

rural districts

one’s home village

one’s residence

beliefs

community

sovereign state

farming district

geographical area

rivers and mountains land

material possessions

ethnic area

Frequency

Hyphenated as

coun‧try

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkʌntɹi/

From Middle English contre, contree, contreie, from Old French contree, from Vulgar Latin (terra) contrāta (“(land) lying opposite; (land) spread before”), derived from Latin contra (“against, opposite”). Unrelated to county. Cognate with Scots kintra.

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