NATIONALITY


Meaning of NATIONALITY in English

ˌnashəˈnaləd.ē, ˌnaash-, ˌnaish-, -ətē, -i noun

( -es )

Etymology: national (I) + -ity

1.

a. : national quality or character

those peculiar institutions which colored all their nationality — J.T.Graves

b. : the quality of being distinctively national

the question of the value of nationality in art — Edward Hopper b. 1882

2. : nationalism

the anglicizing policy … robbed Irish nationality of a great deal of its native force — Aidan Mulloy

3.

a. : the fact or state of belonging to a nation : the status of being a national ; specifically : a legal relationship between an individual and a nation involving allegiance on the part of the individual and usually protection on the part of the state

until … recently voluntary resignation of nationality was not generally recognized — Edward Jenks

b. : the quality or state of being a national of a particular nation

a local citizenship in addition to their British nationality — News from New Zealand

before a national can acquire the nationality of another state — D.V.Sandifer

4. : the quality or state of being a nation ; specifically : political independence or existence as a separate nation

product of Canada's own evolving nationality — H.W.Baehr

if the nationality of any of the smaller German states were extinguished — Examiner

5.

a. : a usually large and closely associated aggregation of people having a common and distinguishing origin, tradition, and language and potentially capable of or actually being organized in a nation-state

the diverse nationalities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire desired independence

b. : a group of people having a common and distinguishing racial, linguistic, and cultural background and forming one constituent element of a larger group (as a nation) : an ethnic group

in China … some fifty nationalities have been noted — John De Francis

Russia's population consists of some 140 nationalities — Pulaski Foundation Bulletin

6. : national or ethnic background

immigrants … of the same language and nationality seek one another — Edith T. Bremer

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.