Meaning & use
national
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Relating to a whole country rather than to one region or to other countries.
Grammar: Usually before a noun: a national holiday, the national team.
Patterns
- a national + noun
- at national level
The president spoke on national television.
Independence Day is a national holiday in many countries.
The school ranks among the best in the national tests.
adjectivebefore a noun
Belonging to one particular country and typical of its people or culture.
Grammar: Often used for symbols and traditions: the national anthem.
Patterns
- national dish
- national costume
Soccer is a national obsession in Brazil.
She wore her national costume at the festival.
Sushi is not the only national dish of Japan.
nouncountableformal
A citizen of a particular country, especially someone living or traveling abroad.
Grammar: Often appears with foreign or the name of a country: foreign nationals.
Patterns
- a foreign national
- a British national
Several foreign nationals were evacuated from the city.
The embassy helps its nationals who lose their passports.
Spanish nationals can work in the country without a visa.
Word forms
| plural (noun) | nationals |
|---|
Common combinations
- national anthem
- Everyone stood while the national anthem played.
- national park
- We camped in a national park last summer.
- national security
- The law was passed to protect national security.
- national average
- Prices here are above the national average.
- national team
- He was chosen for the national team at nineteen.
- foreign national
- A foreign national must register with the police.
Synonyms and how they differ
- countrywide
- Countrywide is less formal and emphasizes that something covers the entire country, while national can also suggest official status.
- federal
- Federal refers to a central government in a union of states, whereas national refers to the whole country regardless of the government structure.
- citizen
- Citizen is the usual word for a member of a country, but national is used when the legal link matters more than rights or duties.
- domestic
- Domestic means inside the country as opposed to abroad, while national can also mean typical of the country.
Opposites
Word family
- nation noun
- a country with its own government and people
- nationality noun
- the legal status of belonging to a nation
- nationally adverb
- across the whole country
- nationalism noun
- strong pride in or devotion to one's own nation
- nationalize verb
- to bring a company under government ownership
Commonly confused: national or international? national or nationwide?
national vs international
International involves two or more countries, while national concerns one country only.
national vs nationwide
Nationwide means throughout the whole country and describes how far something spreads, not who it belongs to.
Practice
The story was so important that it appeared in newspapers across the whole country, making it ___ news.
Choose one answer.
National news is reported to the entire country. Local and regional would mean it concerned only a town or a part of the country.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “national”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.