Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A small country that is economically dependent on a single export commodity, such as bananas, and is typically governed by a dictator or the armed forces.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun politics, idiomatic A small
country , especially one inCentral America , that is dependent on a singleexport commodity (traditionally bananas) and that has acorrupt ,dictatorial government .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a small country (especially in Central America) that is politically unstable and whose economy is dominated by foreign companies and depends on one export (such as bananas)
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Coined by American author O. Henry in his 1904 book of short stories, "Cabbages and Kings", set in the fictional "Anchuria", which was based on his 1896-97 stay in Honduras.
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Examples
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stevenand commented on the word banana republic
this is also a retail store. can you put this definition please!!!
April 7, 2009