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belgian congo

noun

Simple meaning

A former Belgian colony in Central Africa, existing from 1908 to 1960, when it became the modern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

behljuhnkahnggoh

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbɛldʒənˈkɑŋɡoʊ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. historical

    A former Belgian colony in Central Africa, existing from 1908 to 1960, when it became the modern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

  2. historical

    A republic in central Africa; achieved independence from Belgium in 1960

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: A former Belgian colony in Central Africa, existing from 1908 to 1960, when it became the modern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Used this way, belgian congo is an older-sounding word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in historical writing and literature or storytelling contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Dated
Connotation
Old-fashioned
Usage feel
Dated in modern speech

Where it naturally appears

  • Historical writing
  • Literature/storytelling

Usage note

This meaning still makes sense to most readers, but it sounds a generation behind current usage.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.