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Nigeria

American  
[nahy-jeer-ee-uh] / naɪˈdʒɪər i ə /

noun

  1. a republic in western Africa: member of the Commonwealth of Nations; formerly a British colony and protectorate. 356,669 sq. mi. (923,773 sq. km). Abuja.

Nigeria British  
/ naɪˈdʒɪərɪə /

noun

  1. a republic in West Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea: Lagos annexed by the British in 1861; protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria formed in 1900 and united as a colony in 1914; gained independence as a member of the Commonwealth in 1960 (membership suspended from 1995 to 1999 following human rights violations); Eastern Region seceded as the Republic of Biafra for the duration of the severe civil war (1967–70); ruled by military governments from 1966. It consists of a belt of tropical rain forest in the south, with semidesert in the extreme north and highlands in the east; the main export is petroleum. Official language: English; Hausa, Ibo, and Yoruba are the chief regional languages. Religion: animist, Muslim, and Christian. Currency: naira. Capital: Abuja. Pop: 174 507 539 (2013 est). Area: 923 773 sq km (356 669 sq miles)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Nigeria Cultural  

  1. A nation in western Africa on the Gulf of Guinea (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean), bordered by Niger to the north, Chad and Cameroon to the east, and Benin to the west. Lagos is the capital and largest city.

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With over 110 million inhabitants, Nigeria is Africa's most populous country.

Nigeria has been independent from Britain since 1960, and its independent history has been marked by bloodshed and instability. An ill-fated separatist movement established the secessionist state of Biafra in southeastern Nigeria from 1967 to 1970.

The city-state of Benin, in what is now Nigeria, flourished from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries as a center of commerce and culture. It was famous for its cast-gold sculptures.

Other Word Forms

  • Nigerian adjective
  • anti-Nigerian adjective
  • pro-Nigerian adjective

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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.

Kwn, who is nominated for best R&B act, told our team on the Brits red carpet that her outfit was straight from Nigeria - paying tribute to her father's heritage.

From BBC

AFP reporters met prisoners of war from Kenya, Togo, Cameroon and Nigeria during a visit to detention centre in Ukraine late last year.

From Barron's

She was born and raised in Nigeria but is now based in the US.

From BBC

The driver of the car involved in a fatal crash in which British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua was injured has appeared in court in Nigeria.

From BBC

Earlier that year, the couple visited Nigeria to mark 10 years of the Invictus Games.

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.