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Micronation
Definitions
- 1 A non-autonomous entity that claims to be a sovereign state and mimics the actions of a state (with varying degrees of seriousness), but lacks any legal recognition and exists only on paper or in the mind of its creator; a micronational entity.
"For every dreamer there is somewhere a doer, and in the realm [of] the strange micro-nations, the Republic of Minerva has plunged a bit ahead of the nebulous status of most others."
- 2 A small nation (“historically constituted, stable community of people, formed based on a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and manifested in a common culture”). uncommon
"Careful groundwork had given Germany a highly unified micronation within the boundaries of Argentina, in many ways better prepared and better organized than the Argentine nation itself."
- 3 Synonym of microstate (“a country that has a very small population and land area”).
"Also, since Nigeria is the cornerstone of the economy of West Africa, many countries around its perimeter will suffer, including many of the "micro-nations" of the U.N. which were the biggest supporters of the actions in The Congo and Rhodesia."
Etymology
From micro- (“very small”) + nation (“a sovereign state; country”). Compare microcountry, mini-nation, mini-country and ministate. The first sense was coined on 11 March 1973 by the editors of the Lansing State Journal (see quotations) in a republication of an article by Philip J. Hilts, originally writing for Potomac Magazine (Sunday supplement to The Washington Post), and so-called because most micronations are small in size. The article was referring to the unrecognised political entities listed in the Ephemeral States file, a collection of physical micronational records maintained by the Office of the Geographer of the United States Department of State, launched in 1933.
From micro- (“very small”) + nation (“a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed based on a common language, territory, economic life or ethnicity”).
See also for "micronation"
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Unscramble this word: micronation