noun (plural countries)
1 [C] an area of land that has or used to have its own government and laws:
European countries * leading industrial countries * She didn't know what life in a foreign country would be like. * It's good to meet people from different parts of the country.
2 [U] (often following an adjective) an area of land, especially with particular physical features, suitable for a particular purpose or connected with a particular person or people:
open / wooded country * superb walking country * Explore Thomas Hardy country.
3 (the country) [sing.] the people of a country; the nation as a whole:
They have the support of most of the country. * The rich benefited from the reforms, not the country as a whole.
seealsoMOTHERCOUNTRY, THEOLDCOUNTRY, UP-COUNTRY
4 (the country) [sing.] any area outside towns and cities, with fields, woods, farms, etc:
to live in the country * We spent a pleasant day in the country. * a country lane -< LANDSCAPE
5 [U] = COUNTRY-AND-WESTERN:
pop, folk and country
IDIOMS
across country directly across fields, etc.; not by a main road:
riding across country
seealsoCROSS-COUNTRY
go to the country (BrE) (of a government) to hold an election to choose a new parliament
moreatFREEadj.
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WHICHWORD?
country / state
Country is the most usual, neutral word for a geographical area that has or used to have its own government.
State emphasizes the political organization of an area under an independent government. Especially in BrE, it can also mean the government: the member states of the EU * The state provides free education. In AmE the state usually refers to one of the 50 states of the US, not to the government of the country as a whole.
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
This entry for country is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Does country appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — country appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
