Nation1. (n.) A part, or division, of the people of the earth, distinguished from the rest by common descent, language, or institutions; a race; a stock.
2. (n.) The body of inhabitants of a country, united under an independent government of their own.
3. (n.) Family; lineage.
4. (n.) One of the divisions of university students in a classification according to nativity, formerly common in Europe.
5. (n.) One of the four divisions (named from the parts of Scotland) in which students were classified according to their nativity.
6. (n.) A great number; a great deal; -- by way of emphasis; as, a nation of herbs.
Thesaurus Entries
Everyman, John Doe, Public, ally, animal kingdom, archduchy, archdukedom, blood, body politic, breed, brood, buffer state, captive nation, chieftaincy, chieftainry, citizenry, city-state, clan, class, colony, common man, commonweal, commonwealth, community, community at large, constituency, country, county, cultural community, culture, deme, domain, dominion, duchy, dukedom, dwellers, earldom, empery, empire, estate, ethnic group, everybody, everyman, everyone, everywoman, family, folk, folks, free city, general public, gens, gentry, grand duchy, habitancy, house, inhabitants, kind, kingdom, land, line, lineage, linguistic community, mandant, mandate, mandated territory, mandatee, mandatory, matriclan, men, nationality, order, patriclan, people, people at large, people in general, persons, phratry, phyle, plant kingdom, polis, polity, populace, population, possession, power, principality, principate, protectorate, province, public, puppet government, puppet regime, race, realm, republic, satellite, seneschalty, sept, settlement, society, sovereign nation, species, speech community, state, stem, stirps, stock, strain, sultanate, superpower, territory, toparchia, toparchy, totem, tribe, whole people, world, you and me