[na.tion.al.i.ty] n, pl -ties (1691) 1: national character
2: nationalism 3 a: national status; specif: a legal relationship involving allegiance on the part of an individual and usu. protection on the part of the state b: membership in a particular nation
4: political independence or existence as a separate nation
5. a: a people having a common origin, tradition, and language and capable of forming or actually constituting a nation-state b: an ethnic group constituting one element of a larger unit (as a nation)