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Country vs Public - What's the difference?

country | public | Synonyms |

Country is a synonym of public.


As adjectives the difference between country and public

is that country is from or in the countryside or connected with it while public is public.

As a noun country

is (label) an area of land; a district, region.

country

English

Noun

(countries)
  • (label) An area of land; a district, region.
  • * 2010 , David Vann, The Observer , 7 Mar 2010:
  • We walk along flat, open country , red dirt and spinifex grass, a few short trees.
  • A set region of land having particular human occupation or agreed limits, especially inhabited by members of the same race, language speakers etc., or associated with a given person, occupation, species etc.
  • * 2007 , Chris Moss, The Guardian , 17 Feb 2007:
  • This is condor country - the only region this far east where you can see the magnificent vulture - and a small national park straddling the passes, El Condorito, is a good stopover for walkers and birders.
  • The territory of a nation, especially an independent nation state or formerly independent nation; a political entity asserting ultimate authority over a geographical area.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
  • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=5 , passage=By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country .}}
  • * 1994 , (Nelson Mandela), Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 3:
  • It is a beautiful country of rolling hills, fertile valleys, and a thousand rivers and streams which keep the landscape green even in winter.
  • * 2010 , The Economist , 3 Feb 2011:
  • These days corporate Germany looks rather different. Volkswagen, the country ’s leading carmaker, wants to be the world’s biggest by 2018.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries' by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax ' countries , is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.}}
  • *, II.17:
  • *:I was borne and brought up in the Countrie , and amidst husbandry.
  • * 2000 , Alexander Chancellor, The Guardian , 4 Mar.:
  • I have always thought that one of the main reasons for the popularity of blood sports in the country is the pointlessness of going outdoors with no purpose or destination in mind.
  • Country music.
  • (label) The rock through which a vein runs.
  • Derived terms

    /* Derived terms */ * country mile * countryside * countrywide * high country * old country

    See also

    *

    Adjective

    (-)
  • From or in the countryside or connected with it.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.}}
  • Of or connected to country music.
  • Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    public

    English

    (wikipedia public)

    Alternative forms

    * publick, publicke, publique (all obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Able to be seen or known by everyone; open to general view, happening without concealment.
  • * 2011 , Sandra Laville, The Guardian , 18 Apr 2011:
  • Earlier this month Godwin had to make a public apology to the family of Daniel Morgan after the collapse of a £30m inquiry into his murder in 1987.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
  • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.}}
  • Pertaining to all the people as a whole (as opposed a private group); concerning the whole country, community etc.
  • * 2010 , Adam Vaughan, The Guardian , 16 Sep 2010:
  • A mere 3% of the more than 1,000 people interviewed said they actually knew what the conference was about. It seems safe to say public awareness of the Convention on Biological Awareness in Nagoya - and its goal of safeguarding wildlife - is close to non-existent.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-17, author=George Monbiot, authorlink=George Monbiot
  • , title=Money just makes the rich suffer, volume=188, issue=23, page=19 , magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) citation , passage=In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […]  The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.}}
  • Officially representing the community; carried out or funded by the state on behalf of the community.
  • * , chapter=22
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied.}}
  • * 2004 , The Guardian , Leader, 18 Jun 2004:
  • But culture's total budget is a tiny proportion of all public spending; it is one of the government's most visible success stories.
  • Open to all members of a community; especially, provided by national or local authorities and supported by money from taxes.
  • * 2011 , David Smith, The Guardian , 10 May 2011:
  • Some are left for dead on rubbish tips, in refuge bags or at public toilets.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.}}
  • (of a company) Traded publicly via a stock market.
  • Antonyms

    * private

    Derived terms

    * go public * in public * initial public offering * public address system * public assistance * public domain * public eye * public figure * public good * public health * Public Health System * public holiday * public house * public intellectual * public interest * public intoxication * public key * public law * public leaning post * public library * Public Limited Liability Company * public office * public policy * public-private partnership * public property * public school * public servant * public service * public speaking * public transportation * public works * publican * publically * publicly held * publicness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The people in general, regardless of membership of any particular group.
  • Members of the public may not proceed beyond this point.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
  • , title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=“Two or three months more went by?; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichbourne case, were looked forward to with palpitating interest. […]”}}
  • * 2007 May 4, Martin Jacques,
  • Bush and Blair stand condemned by their own publics and face imminent political extinction.
  • (archaic) A public house; an inn.
  • (Sir Walter Scott)

    Usage notes

    * Although generally considered uncountable, this noun does also have countable usage, as in the quotation above.

    Derived terms

    * antipublic * general public * * public relations * public-spirited

    Statistics

    *