Definition of "nation" []

• A relatively large group of people organized under a single, usually independent government; a country. (noun)
• The territory occupied by such a group of people: All across the nation, people are voting their representatives out. (noun)
• The government of a sovereign state. (noun)
• A people who share common customs, origins, history, and frequently language; a nationality: "Historically the Ukrainians are an ancient nation which has persisted and survived through terrible calamity” ( Robert Conquest). (noun)
• A federation or tribe, especially one composed of Native Americans. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Simply because America is the only nation that has used atomic weapons against another nation… and that there have been no such weapons used since, is no guarantee that it cannot happen again and in fact, is considered "acceptable" in some circles of Washington."
• "As Chancellor of the Exchequer he was the Minister most interested in knowing that Palmerston, Russell, and himself were banded together by mutual pledge to make the Confederacy a nation the next week, and that the Southern leaders had as yet no hope of “making a nation” but in them."
• "Jews might hardly have been called by Jeremiah _an ancient nation, from of old a nation_, and in fact these phrases are wanting in the Greek version."