Meaning & use
global citizen
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Meaning
nouncountableapproving
A person who sees themselves as belonging to the whole world and takes responsibility for issues that affect all people.
Grammar: Countable: be a global citizen, young global citizens.
Patterns
- a global citizen of the world
- become a global citizen
The school wants students to grow into global citizens.
As a global citizen, she recycles and supports fair trade.
He calls himself a global citizen after living in six countries.
Word forms
| plural | global citizens |
|---|
Common combinations
- become a global citizen
- Travel helped her become a global citizen.
- responsible global citizen
- A responsible global citizen cares about climate change.
- act as a global citizen
- We should act as global citizens.
- global citizen education
- Global citizen education is part of the course.
Synonyms and how they differ
- citizen of the world
- Citizen of the world is more poetic and focuses on feeling at home anywhere.
- cosmopolitan
- Cosmopolitan describes a sophisticated, widely traveled person rather than a sense of duty.
- internationalist
- Internationalist is political and implies supporting cooperation between nations.
Opposites
Word family
- global adjective
- worldwide
- globalization noun
- worldwide connection
- citizenship noun
- membership of a country or community
- globally adverb
- around the world
Commonly confused: global citizen or national citizen?
global citizen vs national citizen
A citizen of a particular country holds legal rights there; a global citizen has no legal status.
Practice
A person who cares about world issues, not just their own country, is often called a ___.
Choose one answer.
Global citizen describes a worldwide outlook. A resident or guide is not defined by this.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “global citizen”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.