country Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a politically organized body of people under a single government
    commonwealth; land; res publica; nation; state; body politic.
    • the state has elected a new president
    • African nations
    • students who had come to the nation's capitol
    • the country's largest manufacturer
    • an industrialized land
  2. noun the territory occupied by a nation
    state; land.
    • he returned to the land of his birth
    • he visited several European countries
  3. noun the people who live in a nation or country
    land; nation.
    • a statement that sums up the nation's mood
    • the news was announced to the nation
    • the whole country worshipped him
  4. noun an area outside of cities and towns
    rural area.
    • his poetry celebrated the slower pace of life in the country
  5. noun a particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography)
    area.
    • it was a mountainous area
    • Bible country

WordNet

Coun"try noun
Etymology
F. contre, LL. contrata, fr. L. contra over against, on the opposite side. Cf. Counter, adv., Contra.
Wordforms
plural Countries
Definitions
  1. A tract of land; a region; the territory of an independent nation; (as distinguished from any other region, and with a personal pronoun) the region of one's birth, permanent residence, or citizenship.
    Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred. Gen. xxxxii. 9.
    I might have learned this by my last exile, that change of countries cannot change my state. Stirling.
    Many a famous realm And country, whereof here needs no account Milton.
  2. Rural regions, as opposed to a city or town.
    As they walked, on their way into the country. Mark xvi. 12 (Rev. Ver. ).
    God made the covatry, and man made the town. Cowper.
    Only very great men were in the habit of dividing the year between town and country. Macualay.
  3. The inhabitants or people of a state or a region; the populace; the public. Hence: (a) One's constituents. (b) The whole body of the electors of state; as, to dissolve Parliament and appeal to the country.
    All the country in a general voice Cried hate upon him. Shak.
  4. (Law) (a) A jury, as representing the citizens of a country. (b) The inhabitants of the district from which a jury is drawn.
  5. (Mining.) The rock through which a vein runs.
Coun"try adjective
Definitions
  1. Pertaining to the regions remote from a city; rural; rustic; as, a country life; a country town; the country party, as opposed to city.
  2. Destitute of refinement; rude; unpolished; rustic; not urbane; as, country manners.
  3. Pertaining, or peculiar, to one's own country.
    She, bowing herself towards him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, spake in her country language. 2 Macc. vii. 27.

Webster 1913