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Glite Dictionary
🌐 International only 🌍 Without a country
nationless

nationless

7.1
Not belonging to any country and having no citizenship
  • adjective
  • /ˈneɪʃənləs/
translation icon : apátrida
  • The nationless individuals wandered through the land, searching for a place to belong.

Examples

  • The Kurds are a nationless people looking for a nation who had drifted across borders into Iraq and then started a separatist movement attempting to grab land from Iraq.

    Blog text (20)

  • The plight of the nationless children highlighted the struggles of those without a homeland.

  • Without a passport, he felt like a nationless person, lost between borders.

Synonyms

stateless
vsnationless
4 7.4

A person not recognized as a citizen by any country

refers more generally to absence of belonging or association with any country
nonnational
vsnationless
6.3

Not connected to one nation, often involving people from different countries

means lacking membership or association with any country

Antonyms

national
337 2.0

About a person's country of origin or citizenship

Surface Forms

nationless positive

Morphology

nationless = nation (transparent) = nation + less

Built directly from the noun 'nation' + productive suffix '-less' meaning 'without', so the meaning is directly inferable.

Etymology

Nationless comes from nation ('people from the same country') plus the ending -less ('without'). It gives the image of a person who has no country to call home, which is why it means 'not belonging to any nation or country'.