micronation

noun
/ˈmaɪ.kɹəʊ.neɪ̯.ʃən/UK/ˈmaɪ.kɹoʊˌneɪ.ʃən/US

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.

  1. derived from nātiōnem
  2. derived from nacion
  3. inherited from nacioun
  4. prefixed as micronation — “micro- + nation

Definitions

  1. A non-autonomous entity that claims to be a sovereign state and mimics the actions of a…

    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.
    • Oceanus ... This is the world's largest micronation, taking up all the seas of the world beyond national 3-mi. limits.
    • The list of micro-nations is long and colorful. The spirit of new nation-building that resonates from King Robert's descriptions of these countries, is seductive.
  2. Synonym of microstate (“a country that has a very small population and land area”).

    • The concept of an independent Bougainville is sometimes denounced because such a micronation would necessarily restrict the scope of employment opportunities while increasing the frustrations of educated Bougainvilleans.
    • Europe already has workable arrangements with micro-nations like Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino.
  3. A small nation (“historically constituted, stable community of people, formed based on a…

    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”).

    • 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.
    • We are faced with micronationalisms that need be tamed, micronations that will have to be organized.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for micronation. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA