Definitions for Australia
ɔˈstreɪl yəAus·trali·a

Princeton's WordNet(4.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Australia, Commonwealth of Australianoun

   a nation occupying the whole of the Australian continent; Aboriginal tribes are thought to have migrated from southeastern Asia 20,000 years ago; first Europeans were British convicts sent there as a penal colony

2. Australianoun

   the smallest continent; between the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean

Wiktionary(4.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Australianoun

   A country in Oceania. Official name: Commonwealth of Australia.

2. Australianoun

   The continent of Australia-New Guinea. New Guinea and the intervening islands are also on the Australian tectonic plate and are thus geologically considered part of the continent.

Wikipedia(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Australia

   Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia's population of nearly 26 million, in an area of 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,300 sq mi), is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Canberra is the nation's capital, while the largest city is Sydney, and other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. Indigenous Australians inhabited the continent for about 65,000 years, prior to the first arrival of Dutch explorers in the early 17th century, who named it New Holland. In 1770, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788, a date which became Australia's national day. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the time of an 1850s gold rush, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and an additional five self-governing crown colonies established. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy, comprising six states and ten territories. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, and mountain ranges in the south-east. Australia generates its income from various sources, including mining-related exports, telecommunications, banking, manufacturing, and international education.Australia is a highly developed country, with the world's twelfth-largest economy. It has a high-income economy, with the world's tenth-highest per capita income. Australia is a regional power, and has the world's thirteenth-highest military expenditure. Immigrants account for 30% of the country's population, the highest proportion among major Western nations. Having the eight-highest Human Development Index, and the ninth-highest ranked democracy globally as of 2020, Australia ranks highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties, and political rights, with all its major cities faring exceptionally in global comparative livability surveys. It is a member of the United Nations, the G20, the Commonwealth of Nations, the ANZUS, the OECD, the WTO, the APEC, the Pacific Islands Forum, the Pacific Community and the ASEAN + 6 mechanism.

Freebase(3.33 / 3 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Australia

   Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. For at least 40,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Since Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The federation comprises six states and several territories. The population of 23 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated in the eastern states.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Australia

   a continent entirely within the Southern Hemisphere, about one-fourth smaller than Europe, its utmost length from E. to W. being 2400 m., and breadth 1971; the coast has singularly few inlets, though many and spacious harbours, only one great gulf, Carpentaria, on the N., and one bight, the Great Australian Bight, on the S.; the interior consists of a low desert plateau, depressed in the centre, bordered with ranges of various elevation, between which and the sea is a varying breadth of coast-land; the chief mountain range is in the E., and extends more or less parallel all the way with the E. coast; the rivers are few, and either in flood or dried up, for the climate is very parching, only one river, the Murray, 2345 m. long, of any consequence, while the lakes, which are numerous, are shallow and nearly all salt; the flora is peculiar, the eucalyptus and the acacia the most characteristic, grains, fruits, and edible roots being all imported; the fauna is no less peculiar, including, in the absence of many animals of other countries, the kangaroo, the dingo, and the duck-bill, the useful animals being likewise all imported; of birds, the cassowary and the emu, and smaller ones of great beauty, but songless; minerals abound, both the precious and the useful; the natives are disappearing, the colonists in 1904 numbering close upon 4,000,000; and the territory divided into Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, S. Australia, and W. Australia, which with Tasmania federated in 1900 and became the Commonwealth.

U.S. National Library of Medicine(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Australia

   The smallest continent and an independent country, comprising six states and two territories. Its capital is Canberra.

Etymology and Origins(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Australia

   From the Latin Australis, southern.

Matched Categories

1. • Continent
   • Eastern Hemisphere

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Australia' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #2080

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Australia' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2907

How to pronounce Australia?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say Australia in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of Australia in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of Australia in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of Australia in a Sentence

1. Mel Silva:

   The code’s arbitration model with bias criteria presents unmanageable financial and operational risk for Google, if this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia.

2. Jonathan Pryke:

   Coordination is critical. When you're both trying to help, even if you're not going to work together, at least don't get in each other's way, the good news is the supplies from Australia did get there, just a tad later.

3. Kevin Sumption:

   I am satisfied that this is the final resting place of one of the most important and contentious vessels in Australia’s maritime history.

4. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott:

   I understand that the official misspoke and that the U.S. does not have any plans to base those aircraft in Australia.

5. Phil Collins:

   I don't think I want a very long tour, but I would like to play the stadiums in Australia and the Far East, and that's the only way to do that.

Popularity rank by frequency of use