1. A large group of people having a common origin, language, and tradition and usu. constituting a political entity. • When a nation is coincident with a state, the term nation-state is often used.
— Also termed nationality.
“The nearest we can get to a definition is to say that a nation is a group of people bound together by common history, common sentiment and traditions, and, usually (though not always, as, for example, Belgium or Switzerland) by common heritage. A state, on the other hand, is a society of men united under one government. These two forms of society are not necessarily coincident. A single nation may be divided into several states, and conversely a single state may comprise several nations or parts of nations.” John Salmond, Jurisprudence 136 (Glanville L. Williams ed., 10th ed. 1947).
2. A community of people inhabiting a defined territory and organized under an independent government; a sovereign political state. Cf. STATE.
