Republic of San Marino
- proper noun
:
República de San Marino
- Despite its small size, the Republic of San Marino issues its own postage stamps and coins.
Examples
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Many tourists visit the Republic of San Marino every year to learn about its long history.
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Did you know the Republic of San Marino is one of the smallest countries in the world?
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The Republic of San Marino is famous for its medieval architecture and stunning mountain views.
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The Republic of San Marino is known for its historic architecture.
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Despite its small size, the Republic of San Marino issues its own postage stamps and coins.
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Many tourists visit the Republic of San Marino every year to learn about its long history.
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The Republic of San Marino is famous for its medieval architecture and stunning mountain views.
Synonyms
A tiny independent country in southern Europe completely surrounded by Italy
Surface Forms
Morphology
republic + of + San + Marino
The phrase follows a fully compositional naming pattern: 'republic' (a state governed by representatives) + 'of [place]' indicates the state belonging to or identified with San Marino. Even if a learner does not know the proper name 'San Marino', the construction 'Republic of X' is cross-linguistically common and allows a B1 learner who knows the constituents to infer it denotes an independent country.
Etymology
Republic of San Marino may come from a man called Saint Marinus who, one popular story says, fled to a high hill and set up a small, free community long ago. Because the people there ruled themselves on that mountain, the place became known as a tiny 'republic' and is still an 'independent' 'country' today.
