mother country

1
as in birthplace
a place of origin Greece can boast to being the mother country of democracy

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2
as in home
the land of one's birth, residence, or citizenship even after decades of living in their adopted nation, they maintained a strong attachment to the mother country

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of mother country 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 The prime minister of Greenland called on the country to strive for greater independence from its mother country, Denmark, in a New Year’s address delivered this week, in light of the controversy surrounding President-elect Donald Trump’s calls for the U.S. to purchase the island. Timothy Nerozzi, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 3 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for mother country
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mother country
Noun
  • Inspired by Bellingham’s birthplace, Birmingham, his personal logo features on the heel, soleplate and foldover tongue of the boot.
    Mario Cortegana, New York Times, 19 Oct. 2025
  • By selecting the birthplace of nuclear technology as the site for its first production facility, Radiant is symbolically and practically linking past innovation to future energy resilience.
    Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 14 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • While home improvement stores are gaining interest from Halloween shoppers, 42% of shoppers still plan to hit big-box discount stores, up 5% from a year ago with 31% expecting to shop in Halloween/costume stores and 31% expecting to do some online shopping.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Back then, sailors from around the world would bring six-packs from home, drink a few and leave the rest behind to be resold, giving the bar a list of over 180 different beers, according to Cleveland Magazine.
    Deirdre Bardolf, FOXNews.com, 18 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The same technology’s feasibility should also be assessed under different climate zones, and full life cycle assessments (cradle-to-grave) of GS are a necessity for a better understanding of the technology’s merits and limits, researchers noted.
    Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 17 Oct. 2025
  • The town is also the cradle of the popular Mexican Tecate beer and boasts remarkable natural landscapes.
    Paula Soria, AZCentral.com, 9 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Meanwhile, a founder scaling across Europe must incorporate separate entities in each country, untangle regulatory and employment codes in multiple languages and markets, and explain to engineers in Munich why their stock options are treated differently to their colleagues’ in Madrid.
    Jan Hammer, Fortune, 18 Oct. 2025
  • The History of Emily Montague was published in 1769, but the Canadian Confederation—the alliance of the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia into an independent country separate from Great Britain—didn’t occur until 1867.
    JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 18 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Mother country.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mother%20country. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025.

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