Definitions for Australia
ɔˈstreɪl yəAus·tralia

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

1. Australia, Commonwealth of Australia(noun)

   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. Australia(noun)

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

Wiktionary(4.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Australia(ProperNoun)

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

2. Australia(ProperNoun)

   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.

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(0.00 / 0 votes)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.

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

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

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. James Wilson:

   To say coal mining will stop in Australia is unrealistic.

2. Tim Flannery:

   We, as the Climate Commission, were abolished by the federal government with their very first act in coming to power. And the reason that was given to the Australian public and to ourselves was that they lacked the funding, now, 18 months later or so, magically the funding's been found to bring someone from Denmark to Australia to set up a center. The Australian public are owed an explanation.

3. David Sable:

   Everybody he spoke to walked away and felt they were his friend, he had this ability to connect with you, whether it was the queen of England, the prime minister of Australia or the guy who cleaned the pews in the synagogue. He had an incredible connective ability. That's what made him such a good diplomat.

4. Saul Cunninghan:

   This puts Australia in a good position to act as a control group for research on this major issue that could one day become our problem too.

5. David Manne:

   It is abundantly clear that the prolonged, indefinite detention of these men, who were critically ill and brought to Australia for treatment, is almost certainly compounding the severity of their medical conditions.

Images & Illustrations of Australia

Popularity rank by frequency of use