country
Pluralcountries
Pluralcountries
- 1The territory of a nation: a sovereign state, or a land with its own national identity that forms part of a larger state, such as Scotland within the United Kingdom.
Portugal is a small country on the Atlantic coast.
Scotland and Wales are countries within the United Kingdom.
UsageSay in a country and across the country. The country can also mean the countryside, as in a house in the country.
- 2The rural part of a region, away from towns and cities: the open landscape of fields and farms.
They left the city and bought a small place in the country.
Life in the country moves at a slower pace than in town.
UsageUsually the country, with no plural: in the country, move to the country. The countryside means much the same.
Similarcountryside
Note
John Florio's 1603 translation of Montaigne's Essayes already pairs it with husbandry.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- John Florio's English translation of Montaigne's Essayes was first published in 1603. florios-montaigne.org
- Florio's translation pairs the rural sense of country with husbandry. hyperessays.net
- 3Coming from, located in, or characteristic of the countryside and rural life.
He has an easy country manner that puts strangers at ease.
Their country house sits among rolling fields.
UsageMostly before a noun: country roads, a country house. In casual speech it can follow a verb and be graded: a little more country.
Similarrural, rustic, provincial
Oppositeurban
- 4Of or relating to the country music genre and its style.
He grew up listening to classic country songs.
The band gave the ballad a distinctly country sound.
- 5The people of a nation, region, or district considered together; the populace or general public.
The country mourned the loss of its beloved leader.
When the law finally passed, the country was deeply divided.
Similarnation, people, public, populace
Note
Here the place stands for its people, who speak, grieve and take sides as one. Shakespeare uses it in Henry IV, Part 2: "all the country, in a general voice, / Cried hate upon him." The shape still holds today, with the country acting as a single body of public feeling or opinion.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The quoted words occur in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2; the character speaking is Westmoreland. folger.edu
- 6An area of land, often one known for its landscape, its use, or its link to a people or writer.
The explorers crossed hundreds of miles of unmapped country.
After the storm, much of the country between the two towns lay under water.
UsageOften with an adjective and no a: rough country, open country, miles of wild country.
Less common meanings
- 7Short for country music: a style of popular music that grew from the folk music of the rural southern US, often featuring guitars and fiddles.
He switched the radio to country during the long drive.
He grew up on rock but switched to country in his thirties.
UsageUsed like the name of a style, with no a: listen to country, play some country.
Note
Clipped from country music, the noun can name the genre all by itself: play some country, a lifelong fan of country. Before another noun (a country song, a country singer, a country festival) it shades into the music adjective, and the difference is mostly position. Either way, it points back to the rural folk music of the southern and western United States.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- The music noun country is shortened from country music. en.wiktionary.org
- Country music originated in rural folk music of the southern and western United States. en.wiktionary.org
- 8The spirit of rural places and the folkways that go with them.
Twenty years in Chicago haven't changed her; there's still plenty of country in how she talks.
He wears tailored suits now, but the country comes out when he swaps stories with his uncles.
UsageOften in take the country out of someone, from the proverb about the boy and the country.
Note
Rural upbringing pictured as something a person carries inside. The proverb runs "you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy." Its first country is the countryside, and its second is this sense: the habits and outlook, not the land.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The proverb exists in the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
- The proverb expresses the persistence of qualities acquired where someone grew up. en.wiktionary.org
- 9The traditional lands of Indigenous people, carrying embedded cultural, spiritual, ecological, and physical significance.
The community gathered to perform ceremonies that connect them to country.
Returning to country, the family visited sites their ancestors had tended for generations.
UsageUsed without the in phrases like live on country, return to country, and caring for country.
Note
The meaning reaches back at least to The Inquirer of Perth in 1842. There an Aboriginal speaker sets "my country" against the settlers' claim that "ALL country our land."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- This meaning is attested in The Inquirer of Perth in 1842. en.wiktionary.org
- The passage represents an Aboriginal speaker contrasting his country with the settlers’ claim, using the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
- 10Originating within India rather than being imported from other countries.
Back in Kerala, my aunt still pays extra for country chicken instead of broilers from imported breeds.
Police in Bihar seized a cache of country guns turned out in a backyard workshop.
Similarnative
Oppositeforeign
Note
An Indian English use at home in trade, where goods were sorted into imported and home-produced: country horses, country harness, country-wound silk.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Country horses and country harness are documented examples of this distinction. en.wikisource.org
- Country-wound silk is a documented example, referring to silk reeled by the native method. en.wikisource.org
- 11The surrounding rock in which a vein of coal or ore is enclosed.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
Latin contrā ("against, opposite") gave Vulgar Latin *(terra) contrāta, the "(land) lying opposite" or "spread before one." This passed through Old French contree into Middle English as contre. The word is not related to "county," and it pushed out the native English "land" in some senses. Around 1300 it referred to the area around a walled town, and by the early 16th century it was used mostly for rural areas rather than towns and cities.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
- Latin contrā meant “against, opposite.” en.wiktionary.org
- Vulgar Latin *(terra) contrāta derived from Latin contrā and meant land lying opposite or spread before one. newworldencyclopedia.org
- The word passed through Old French contree into Middle English contre. en.wiktionary.org
- Country is etymologically unrelated to county. en.wiktionary.org
- Country displaced native English land in some senses. en.wiktionary.org
- Around 1300, country referred to the area surrounding a walled town. en.wiktionary.org
- By the early sixteenth century, this sense applied mostly to rural areas, as opposed to towns and cities. en.wiktionary.org