nations

n. country; people of a certain country or nationality

A nation is a form of cultural or social community. Nationhood is an ethical and philosophical doctrine and is the starting point for the ideology of nationalism. Members of a "nation" share a common identity, and usually a common origin, in the sense of ancestry, parentage or descent. A nation extends across generations, and includes the dead as full members. Past events are framed in this context; for example; by referring to "our soldiers" in conflicts which took place hundreds of years ago. More vaguely, nations are assumed to include future generations. A nation is not a state, and while traditionally monocultural, it may also be multicultural in its self-definition. The term nation is often used as a synonym for ethnic group (sometimes "ethnos"), but although ethnicity is now one of the most important aspects of cultural or social identity, people with the same ethnic origin may live in different nation-states and be treated as members of separate nations for that reason. National identity is often disputed, down to the level of the individual.
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n. nations of the world, countries of the world, foreign nations; state, internally autonomous territorial or political unit joined with others under a sovereign government

n. nation, people, country, people of a certain country or nationality

Nations or states are independent bodies politic; societies of men united together for the purpose of promoting their mutual safety and advantage by the joint efforts of their combined strength.

But every combination of men who govern themselves, independently of all others, will not be considered a nation; a body of pirates, for example, who govern themselves, are not a nation. To constitute a nation another ingredient is required. The body thus formed must respect other nations in general, and each of their members in particular. Such a society has her affairs and her interests; she deliberates and takes resolutions in common; thus becoming a moral person who possesses an understanding and will peculiar to herself, and is susceptible of obligations and rights.

It belongs to the government to declare whether they will consider a colony which has thrown off the yoke of the mother country as an independent state; and until the government have decided on the question, courts of justice are bound to consider the ancient state of things as remaining unchanged.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.

Noun
1. a politically organized body of people under a single government; "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"
(synonym) state, country, land, commonwealth, res publica, body politic
(hypernym) political unit
(hyponym) Dominion
(part-meronym) estate, estate of the realm
2. the people who live in a nation or country; "a statement that sums up the nation's mood"; "the news was announced to the nation"; "the whole country worshipped him"
(synonym) land, country, a people
(hypernym) people
(hyponym) Dutch, Dutch people
(member-meronym) national, subject
3. a federation of tribes (especially native American tribes); "the Shawnee nation"
(hypernym) confederation, confederacy, federation
(hyponym) tribe, federation of tribes
(classification) United States, United States of America, America, US, U.S., USA, U.S.A.