What does France mean?

Definitions for France
fræns, frɑnsfrance

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word France.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. France, French Republicnoun

    a republic in western Europe; the largest country wholly in Europe

  2. France, Anatole France, Jacques Anatole Francois Thibaultnoun

    French writer of sophisticated novels and short stories (1844-1924)

Wiktionary

  1. Francenoun

    A country in Western Europe having borders with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra and Spain. Member state of the European Union. Official name: French Republic (République française). Population: 62 million inhabitants.

Wikipedia

  1. France

    France (French: [fʁɑ̃s] ), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik frɑ̃sɛz]), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also includes overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, giving it one of the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zones in the world. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea; overseas territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean. Its eighteen integral regions (five of which are overseas) span a combined area of 643,801 km2 (248,573 sq mi) and contain over 68 million people (as of January 2023).France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre; other major urban areas include Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille, Bordeaux, and Nice. Inhabited since the Palaeolithic era, the territory of Metropolitan France was settled by Celtic tribes known as Gauls during the Iron Age. Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, leading to a distinct Gallo-Roman culture that laid the foundation of the French language. The Germanic Franks formed the Kingdom of Francia, which became the heartland of the Carolingian Empire. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned the empire, with West Francia becoming the Kingdom of France in 987. In the High Middle Ages, France was a powerful but highly decentralised feudal kingdom. Philip II successfully strengthened royal power and defeated his rivals to double the size of the crown lands; by the end of his reign, France had emerged as the most powerful state in Europe. From the mid-14th to the mid-15th century, France was plunged into a series of dynastic conflicts involving England, collectively known as the Hundred Years' War, and a distinct French identity emerged as a result. The French Renaissance saw art and culture flourish, conflict with the House of Habsburg, and the establishment of a global colonial empire, which by the 20th century would become the second-largest in the world. The second half of the 16th century was dominated by religious civil wars between Catholics and Huguenots that severely weakened the country. France again emerged as Europe's dominant power in the 17th century under Louis XIV following the Thirty Years' War. Inadequate economic policies, inequitable taxes and frequent wars (notably a defeat in the Seven Years' War and costly involvement in the American War of Independence) left the kingdom in a precarious economic situation by the end of the 18th century. This precipitated the French Revolution of 1789, which overthrew the Ancien Régime and produced the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which expresses the nation's ideals to this day. France reached its political and military zenith in the early 19th century under Napoleon Bonaparte, subjugating much of continental Europe and establishing the First French Empire. The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of European and world history. The collapse of the empire initiated a period of relative decline, in which France endured a tumultuous succession of governments until the founding of the French Third Republic during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. Subsequent decades saw a period of optimism, cultural and scientific flourishing, as well as economic prosperity, known as the Belle Époque. France was one of the major participants of World War I, from which it emerged victorious at a great human and economic cost. It was among the Allied powers of World War II but was soon occupied by the Axis in 1940. Following liberation in 1944, the short-lived Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War. The current Fifth Republic was formed in 1958 by Charles de Gaulle. Algeria and most French colonies became independent in the 1960s, with the majority retaining close economic and military ties with France. France retains its centuries-long status as a global centre of art, science and philosophy. It hosts the fifth-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is the world's leading tourist destination, receiving over 89 million foreign visitors in 2018. France is a developed country ranked 28th in the Human Development Index, with the world's seventh-largest economy by nominal GDP and tenth-largest by PPP; in terms of aggregate household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, and life expectancy. It remains a great power in global affairs, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and an official nuclear-weapon state. France is a founding and leading member of the European Union and the Eurozone, as well as a key member of the Group o

ChatGPT

  1. france

    France is a country located in Western Europe, known officially as the French Republic. It is known for its rich history, culture, and contributions to art, science, and philosophy. It is the third-largest country in Europe and boasts diverse landscapes ranging from beaches and mountains to farmlands and bustling cities. It’s capital and largest city is Paris, which is famous for landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, and Notre-Dame Cathedral. France is a founding member of the United Nations and the European Union and is one of the world's largest economies. Its official language is French.

Wikidata

  1. France

    France, officially the French Republic, is a unitary semi-presidential republic located mostly in Western Europe, with several overseas regions and territories. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. From its shape, it is often referred to in French as l’Hexagone. France is the largest country in Western Europe and the third-largest in Europe as a whole. It possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world. France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military, and political influence in Europe and around the world. France has its main ideals expressed in the 18th-century Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second-largest colonial empire of the time, ruling large portions of first North America and India and then Northwest and Central Africa; Madagascar; Indochina and southeast China; and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands. France is a developed country, possessing the world's fifth-largest and Europe's second-largest economy by nominal GDP. It is also the world's ninth-largest by GDP at purchasing power parity. France is the wealthiest nation in Europe – and the fourth-wealthiest in the world – in aggregate household wealth. French citizens enjoy a high standard of living, high public education level, and one of the world's longest life expectancies. France has been listed as the world's "best overall health care" provider by the World Health Organization. It is the most-visited country in the world, receiving 79.5 million foreign tourists annually.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

  1. France

    the land of the French; a nation standing in the front rank among the powers of Europe. It occupies a geographical position of peculiar advantage in the western portion of it, having a southern foreshore on the Mediterranean and a western and northern seaboard washed by the Atlantic and the English Channel, possessing altogether a coast-line, rather undeveloped however, of upwards of 2000 m., while to the E. it abuts upon Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. It is divided into 87 departments, including Corsica. It is mainly composed of lowland and plateau, but has the Cévennes in the S., while the Pyrenees and Alps (with the Vosges and Ardennes farther N.) lie on its southern and eastern boundaries. Rivers abound and form, with the splendid railway, canal, and telegraph systems, an unrivalled means of internal communication; but there are singularly few lakes. It enjoys on the whole a fine climate, which favours the vineyards in the centre (the finest in the world), the olive groves in the S., and the wheat and beetroot region in the N. The mineral wealth is inconsiderable, and what of coal and iron there is lies widely apart. Her manufactures, which include silk, wine, and woollen goods, are of the best, and in fine artistic work she is without an equal. The colonies are together larger in area than the mother-country, and include Algeria, Madagascar, and Cochin China. The French are a people of keen intelligence, of bright, impulsive, and vivacious nature; urbane, cultured, and pleasure-loving in the cities, thrifty and industrious in the country; few races have given so rich a bequest to the literature and art of the world. Roman Catholicism is the dominant form of religion, but Protestantism and the Jewish religion are also State supported, as also Mohammedanism in Algiers. Free compulsory education is in vogue. The Government is a Republic, and there are two chambers—a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. Originally occupied by Celts, the country, then called Gallia, was conquered by the Romans between 58 and 51 B.C., who occupied it till the 4th century, when it was overrun by the Teutons, including the Franks, who became dominant; and about 870 the country, under Charles the Bald, became known as France. The unsettling effects of the great cataclysm of 1789 have been apparent in the series of political changes which have swept across the country this century; within that time it has been thrice a monarchy, thrice an empire, and thrice a republic.

U.S. National Library of Medicine

  1. France

    A country in western Europe bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, the Mediterranean Sea, and the countries of Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the principalities of Andorra and Monaco, and by the duchy of Luxembourg. Its capital is Paris.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. france

    A country of Western Europe, which was known to the Romans by the name of Gaul (which see). In the decline of their power it was conquered by the Franks, a people of Germany, then inhabiting Franconia, where they became known about 240. These invaders gave the name to the kingdom (Franken-ric, Frank’s Kingdom); but the Gauls, being by far the more numerous, are the real ancestors of the modern French. For details of important events in France, see separate articles.

Suggested Resources

  1. france

    Quotes by france -- Explore a large variety of famous quotes made by france on the Quotes.net website.

  2. france

    Song lyrics by france -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by france on the Lyrics.com website.

Etymology and Origins

  1. France

    Anciently Franconia, the country of the Franks, so called from the franca, a kind of javelin with which they armed themselves when this people effected the conquest of Gaul.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. FRANCE

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, France is ranked #3005 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The France surname appeared 11,937 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 would have the surname France.

    76.8% or 9,177 total occurrences were White.
    16.9% or 2,027 total occurrences were Black.
    2.3% or 282 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    2.1% or 260 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    0.8% or 103 total occurrences were Asian.
    0.7% or 88 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'France' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #783

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'France' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1640

How to pronounce France?

How to say France in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of France in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of France in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of France in a Sentence

  1. Deborah Birx:

    There are concerning reports coming out of France and Italy about some young people getting seriously ill and very seriously ill in the ICUs, we think part of this may be that people heeded the early data coming out of China and coming out of South Korea of the elderly or those with preexisting medical conditions were a particular risk.

  2. Nasr Ibn Ali al-Ansi:

    If he is capable to wage individual jihad in the Western countries that fight Islam -- such as America, Britain, France, Canada, and others of the countries that represent the head of disbelief in waging war against Islam ... If he is capable of that, then that is better and more harmful.

  3. Benjamin Netanyahu:

    All signs show he is a supporter of the Islamic State, we know there is a sequence of terror attacks, and it's quite possible that there is a connection between them, from France, Berlin and now Jerusalem.

  4. Gunnar Beck:

    France, the Netherlands, Germany -- none of us will be the catalyst for change, we are just too brainwashed, but if you look to our colleagues in central Europe who are free from the pro-Brussels neurosis, you find countries who are willing to stand up to the EU in a way Germany isn't.

  5. Le Maire:

    You can't be out of the EU and getting all the benefits of the single market, that is a clear red line for France.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

France#1#778#10000

Translations for France

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"France." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/France>.

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