motherland

noun

ˈmə-t͟hər-ˌland How to pronounce motherland (audio)
Definition of motherlandnext
1
as in birthplace
a place of origin for many oenophiles, France remains the motherland of fine wines

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in home
the land of one's birth, residence, or citizenship all his life he longed to return to his motherland

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of motherland In China, many laud Gu for identifying herself as Chinese and competing for the honor of the motherland. — ABC News, 10 Mar. 2026 This isn’t the first time that food from the motherland has had me in a chokehold. — Andre James, Charlotte Observer, 25 Feb. 2026 In one, second-generation immigrant Gloria (Katy Correa) returns to her father’s home village in rural Guinea-Bissau for a traditional memorial ritual to mark the old man’s recent passing, and to introduce her twentysomething daughter Nour (D’Johé Kouadio) to her ancestral motherland. — Guy Lodge, Variety, 14 Feb. 2026 Doja Cat‘s South African homecoming may have been brought to a halt when Hey Neighbour festival canceled its 2025 staging, but the Grammy winner will finally get to visit her motherland this spring. — Kyle Denis, Billboard, 13 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for motherland
Recent Examples of Synonyms for motherland
  1. birthplace
  2. home
  3. cradle
  4. country
  5. homeland
Noun
  • Or by the Austrian town of Braunau am Inn, where no one knew quite what to do with Hitler’s birthplace.
    — Mark Sappenfield, Christian Science Monitor, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Aside from electoral politics, the poll showed widespread uneasiness about the economy and the future in communities that have been seen as the archetypal birthplace of the American dream.
    — Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of birthplace
Noun
  • Mubarak Bekheit, an aid worker in Darfur, told the AP by phone on Wednesday that many people remained missing and some bodies had yet to be recovered from homes in the area after the strike hit a civilian neighborhood.
    — YASSIR ABDALLA, Arkansas Online, 29 Oct. 2026
  • Bickelhaupt escaped the home and called a ride-sharing service to the airport, intending to travel back to Denver, Colorado, where she was born.
    — Zoey Thomas, Sun Sentinel, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of home
Noun
  • The federal voucher program is the cradle of the Great American Heist.
    — Denise Forte, Baltimore Sun, 21 Oct. 2026
  • While the device is in the cradle, the red battery LED blinks slowly during charging and is solid when fully charged.
    — John R. Delaney, PC Magazine, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of cradle
Noun
  • On foreign policy, Lula has worked to boost the political influence of countries in the Global South as a founding member of the BRICS group, a grouping of major emerging economies that includes Brazil, China, Russia, India and South Africa.
    — Catherine Osborn, NPR, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Meanwhile, Elon Musk, who has spent more than four hundred million dollars on Republican campaigns this election cycle, slowed Ukraine’s access to his Starshield satellite network, leaving that country more vulnerable to Russian attacks.
    — Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of country
Noun
  • The character cheerfully insisted that Scotch whisky, the Garden of Eden, and most other worthwhile inventions had originated in his homeland.
    — Daniel Ross Goodman, The Washington Examiner, 30 Oct. 2026
  • Born in the West Bank village of Jifna in 1944, Alexander Michel Odeh attended Cairo University, then was unable to return to his homeland in 1967 due to Israel’s occupation.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of homeland

Browse Nearby Words

mothering
motherland
motherlands
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Motherland.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/motherland. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of wraith

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Pwn, Skibidi, Girlboss and Other Words Added to the 2026 Scrabble Dictionary

The Words of the Week - Oct. 30

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All