Sierra Leone

American

[lee-oh-nee, lee-ohn] / liˈoʊ ni, liˈoʊn /

noun

an independent republic in W Africa: member of the Commonwealth of Nations; formerly a British colony and protectorate. 27,925 sq. mi. (72,326 sq. km). Freetown.

Sierra Leone British

/ sɪˈɛərə lɪˈəʊnɪ, lɪˈəʊn /

noun

a republic in W Africa, on the Atlantic: became a British colony in 1808 and gained independence (within the Commonwealth) in 1961; declared a republic in 1971; became a one-party state in 1978; multiparty democracy restored in 1991 but military rule was imposed following a coup in 1992, which led to civil unrest; consists of coastal swamps rising to a plateau in the east. Official language: English. Religion: Muslim majority and animist. Currency: leone. Capital: Freetown. Pop: 5 612 685 (2013 est). Area: 71 740 sq km (27 699 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

Sierra Leone Cultural

Republic in western Africa, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea to the north and east, and Liberia to the south. Freetown is its capital and largest city.

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After the American Revolutionary War, attempts were made to settle freed slaves in Sierra Leone. Formerly a British protectorate, Sierra Leone became independent in 1961.

Other Word Forms

Sierra Leonean noun

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.

Eight more, including migrants from Ghana, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone and Senegal, arrived Monday, according to Cameroonian lawyer Joseph Awah Fru, who represents about half of the group.

From The Wall Street Journal

Countries such as Benin and Sierra Leone also offer citizenship to people of African descent based on verified ancestral ties.

From BBC

"The top three flags used by Russian shadow-fleet vessels transporting crude oil are false/unknown flag, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon," it said.

From Barron's

The son of parents who fled Sierra Leone's civil war in the 1990s, Tiafoe used to sleep on the floor at a plush Maryland tennis centre where his father was a janitor.

From BBC

So last August Musa, travelled to Makeni, in central Sierra Leone, in a bid to find them.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023