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African nation

African nation

18 1.0
A country in Africa
  • noun
translation icon : país africano
  • In 1957, Ghana became the first African nation to achieve independence from its colonial ruler.
  • many African nations
  • other African nations
  • East African nation

And I think this is a situation where the African Union and African nations in general are saying we don't.

Examples

  • Because of their poverty, many African nations cannot afford existing inputs or new technologies to enhance food production.

    Academic text (1998)
  • What has enabled Botswana to succeed where so many other African nations have failed?

    Academic text (2004)
  • So one of the questions they asked was what percent of African nations belong to the United Nations, OK.

  • First, my students had virtually no knowledge of African nations.

    Academic text (1996)
  • National water companies in African nations, for example, rarely supply water to small urban and rural poor communities.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Indeed, in recent decades, African nations have invested substantially in urban housing development.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Several African nations are using MA techniques in their own ecosystem assessments.

    Academic text (2006)
  • The post-independent educational policies left most African nations dependent on European experts and ignorant of other alternatives.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Two dozen nations were included, but poorer, less economically developed nations (especially African nations) are underrepresented.

    Academic text (1993)
  • In 1957, Ghana became the first African nation to achieve independence from its colonial ruler.

How Big

African nation
18 1.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

African + nation

The meaning 'any country located on the African continent' is directly and transparently composed from 'African' (connected with Africa) + 'nation' (a country or people), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the phrase. This adjectival + noun composition is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English patterns, making it immediately understandable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

African nation joins African (from Africa) and nation (a 'country' with its own people and government). Picture a map of Africa with a flag on one place marking that country, and you have an African nation, so the phrase means 'any country located on the African continent'.