Nicaragua
Americannoun
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a republic in Central America. 57,143 sq. mi. (148,000 sq. km). Managua.
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Spanish Lago de Nicaragua. Lake. a lake in SW Nicaragua. 92 miles (148 km) long; 34 miles (55 km) wide; 3,060 sq. mi. (7,925 sq. km).
noun
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a republic in Central America, on the Caribbean and the Pacific: colonized by the Spanish from the 1520s; gained independence in 1821 and was annexed by Mexico, becoming a republic in 1838. Official language: Spanish. Religion: Roman Catholic majority. Currency: córdoba. Capital: Managua. Pop: 5 788 531 (2013 est). Area: 131 812 sq km (50 893 sq miles)
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a lake in SW Nicaragua, separated from the Pacific by an isthmus 19 km (12 miles) wide: the largest lake in Central America. Area: 8264 sq km (3191 sq miles)
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After fifty years of guerrilla warfare, the Marxist Sandinistas launched a civil war and assumed power in 1979.
General Anastasio Somoza established a military dictatorship in 1933. He was assassinated in 1956, but his sons continued the Somoza regime until 1979.
During the 1980s, the United States backed anti-Sandinista guerrillas called Contras (see Iran-Contra Affair). In 1990, the Sandinistas were defeated in free elections. In 1995, and again in 2001, opponents of the Sandinistas won elections to the nation's presidency.
Other Word Forms
- Nicaraguan noun
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Nicaragua, Cuba's only partner in Central America, has not announced any aid shipments but it has rejected the US sanctions.
From Barron's
United Airlines helped re-route Calderón to Nicaragua — and the airline did bump up his seat to first class to make up for the mix-up.
From Los Angeles Times
"It's a historic moment for both countries," Dogu -- a former ambassador to Nicaragua and Honduras -- said in the video.
From Barron's
For Tía Beatriz to have survived a hurricane in Nicaragua as a young woman and come all this way to the United States only to die in another storm—it wasn’t fair.
From Literature
In their midst was former nationalist leader Alain Orsoni, 71, who had flown in from exile in Nicaragua to bury his mother.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
