Nation

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. A part, or division, of the people of the earth, distinguished from the rest by common descent, language, or institutions; a race; a stock. All nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues. Rev. vii. 9.

2. The body of inhabitants of a country, united under an independent government of their own. A nation is the unity of a people. Coleridge. Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation. F. S. Key.

3. Family; lineage. [Obs.] Chaucer.

4. One of the divisions of university students in a classification according to nativity, formerly common in Europe.

5. A great number; a great deal; -- by way of emphasis; as, a nation of herbs. Sterne. Five nations. See under Five. -- Law of nations. See International law, under International, and Law.

Synonyms: people; race. See People.