Republic of Sierra Leone

1 3.4

A country in West Africa that became independent from the United Kingdom in 1961

proper noun

: República de Sierra Leona

The Republic of Sierra Leone is located on the west coast of Africa.

Examples

The Republic of Sierra Leone is rich in minerals, especially diamonds.
She spent two years working in the Republic of Sierra Leone with a humanitarian organization.
After 1961, the Republic of Sierra Leone celebrated its independence annually.
Did you know that the Republic of Sierra Leone was founded in 1961?
The Republic of Sierra Leone is rich in minerals, especially diamonds.
The Republic of Sierra Leone is located on the west coast of Africa.
She spent two years working in the Republic of Sierra Leone with a humanitarian organization.

Synonyms

Sierra Leone

vsRepublic of Sierra Leone

29 2.9

A country in West Africa next to Guinea and Liberia with capital Freetown

uses the country's official full title rather than the common name

Surface Forms

Republic of Sierra Leone main

Morphology

republic + of + Sierra + Leone

The phrase follows the compositional and cross-linguistically common pattern 'Republic of X' meaning the official name of a state, so a B1 learner who knows 'republic' and the preposition 'of' will infer it denotes a country. Even if 'Sierra' and 'Leone' are unfamiliar as lexical items, the construction makes the overall meaning (a country name) transparent rather than idiomatic.

Etymology

Republic of Sierra Leone comes from old Portuguese words: Sierra meaning 'mountain' and Leone meaning 'lion', so early sailors called the coast the 'lioness mountains'. The word Republic means 'a country with its own government', so the full name simply identifies the country of the 'lioness mountains'.