mother country
noun
1
: the country of one's parents or ancestors
also
: fatherland
2
: the country from which the people of a colony or former colony derive their origin
3
: a country that is the origin of something
Examples of mother country in a Sentence
Greece can boast to being the mother country of democracy.
even after decades of living in their adopted nation, they maintained a strong attachment to the mother country
Recent Examples on the Web
Commercial and cultural ties between the mother country and its colonies, among other factors, provided material and intellectual support for the American cause in Britain.
—
Literary Hub, 17 July 2025
Reread Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of all the rights that King George III had denied his American subjects and forced them to break from the mother country.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 19 Apr. 2025
Veins branching along my skin like the waterways of my mother country.
—Lauren Vuong, Mercury News, 19 Apr. 2025
Still, many colonists had not seriously considered separating from the mother country—until a history-making pamphlet was published in the City of Brotherly Love on January 10, 1776.
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mother country
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Literary Hub, 17 July 2025
Reread Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of all the rights that King George III had denied his American subjects and forced them to break from the mother country.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 19 Apr. 2025
Veins branching along my skin like the waterways of my mother country.
—Lauren Vuong, Mercury News, 19 Apr. 2025
Still, many colonists had not seriously considered separating from the mother country—until a history-making pamphlet was published in the City of Brotherly Love on January 10, 1776.
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mother country
Cite this Entry
“Mother country.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mother%20country. Accessed 23 Jul. 2025.
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