Meaning & use
countries
Last updated
“countries” is a form of “country”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounplural
Nations, each with its own territory and government, such as France or Japan.
Grammar: Plural of country; use with are and these: these countries are small.
Patterns
- countries in something
- countries such as something
Many countries in Europe use the same currency.
How many countries has she visited?
The two countries signed a trade agreement last week.
nounpluralliterary
Areas of land with particular features, such as hills or farmland, especially when regarded as places to live in or travel through.
Grammar: Rare plural; countries in this sense refers to distinct regions.
The wine countries of the south attract many visitors.
Wild countries lay beyond the mountains in the old maps.
He wrote about the hill countries of his childhood.
Word forms
| singular | country |
|---|
Common combinations
- developing countries
- Developing countries often rely on farming.
- neighboring countries
- Neighboring countries opened their borders for relief aid.
- countries around the world
- Students from countries around the world joined the course.
- European countries
- Several European countries hold elections this year.
- rich and poor countries
- The gap between rich and poor countries is widening.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nations
- Nations stresses the people and shared identity, while countries stresses territory and borders.
- states
- States stresses the government and legal status, and also names regions inside a country such as in the United States.
- lands
- Lands is poetic and covers territory in a general sense, whereas countries sounds ordinary and political.
Word family
- country noun
- singular nation or rural area
- countryside noun
- land outside towns and cities
- countryman noun
- a person from the same country
- cross-country adjective
- across fields or from one end of a nation to the other
Commonly confused: countries or counties? countries or countrys?
countries vs counties
Counties are smaller regions inside a country, so counties and countries differ in size and meaning.
countries vs countrys
This is a misspelling; the correct plural of country is countries.
Practice
Which sentence spells the plural correctly?
Choose one answer.
Nouns ending in consonant plus y change y to ies in the plural, so countries is correct. The other options are misspellings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “countries”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.