United Nations
796
2.3
- proper noun
- /juˈnaɪtɪd ˈneɪʃənz/
:
Naciones Unidas
- If you can imagine it, the United States no longer has a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council.
- United Nations (UN)
- United Nations Security Council
- United Nations General Assembly
This is an affront to the principles on which the United Nations were founded.
- This is an affront to the principles on which the United Nations were founded.
- And she was an appointee of the secretary general of the United Nations, Antonio Gutierrez.
- Whenever I saw UN troops carrying United Nations flag, that was our life lifeline.
- And it would normally be up to the United Nations Security Council to enforce that convention.
- We made the second effort with the United Nations.
- Go and take in Saint Louis, a group of homeschooling students to the United Nations in New York.
- So ask them, well, how many African countries are in the United Nations?
- They won't try to get them to vote with them in the United Nations.
- And Syria is actually a shameful example of failure by the United Nations.
- If you can imagine it, the United States no longer has a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council.
- So Trump appeared before the United Nations to reject the premise of nations uniting.
- But you cannot institutionalized joy or peace like right now we think United Nations is the institution for peace.
- And these are all based upon faction, the United Nations World Food Program.
Examples
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The United Nations voted not to hear our appeal.
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The mayor has declared a humanitarian crisis and has appealed to the United Nations for help.
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What have the world or the United Nations done to stop them?
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Based on this evidence, the United Nations established a war crimes tribunal for Rwanda in late 1994.
Academic text (1999) -
The mayor has declared a humanitarian crisis and has appealed to the United Nations for help.
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China has also shown a willingness to support United Nations efforts to broker a cease-fire in Syria.
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The United Nations voted not to hear our appeal.
Synonyms
432
3.2
An international group that helps countries keep peace and work together
6
8.1
An old name for the United Nations, the group of countries that work together
Surface Forms
Morphology
The name 'United Nations' is compositionally built from 'united' + 'nations' and literally denotes nations that are united, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to an organization of countries cooperating. This straightforward, cross-linguistically parallel construction (e.g. Naciones Unidas, Nations Unies) makes the meaning transparent despite being a conventional proper name.
Etymology
United Nations was named in 1945 when many countries joined together after World War II to try to stop future wars, using the simple image of many United Nations standing together. So United Nations means an organization of many countries 'working together' to keep peace and help people.