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nationalism

noun

Simple meaning

Support for the creation of a sovereign nation.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

nashuhnuhlihzuhm

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈnæʃənəlɪzəm

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. Support for the creation of a sovereign nation (which does not currently exist).

  2. A more extreme form of patriotism; the idea of a more extreme support for one's country, people or culture.

  3. ukireland

    Support for the union of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Support for the creation of a sovereign nation (which does not currently exist).

Used this way, nationalism is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

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

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Support

arab nationalismirish nationalism

Other combinations

cultural nationalismindian nationalismafrican nationalismnew nationalismamerican nationalismjewish nationalism

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • nationalistnounPerson or profession

    One who loves and defends his or her country.

  • nationalitynounDerived noun · specialist

    People having common origins or traditions and often comprising a nation.

  • nationallyadverbDerived adverb

    With regard to a nation taken as a whole.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

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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.