1a nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory:the country’s increasingly precarious economic positionSpain, Italy, and other European countries
(the country) the people of a nation:the whole country took to the streets
2 (often the country) districts and small settlements outside large urban areas or the capital:the airfield is right out in the country [as modifier]:a country lane
3 [mass noun] an area or region with regard to its physical features:a tract of wild country
a region associated with a particular person, work, or television programme:an old mansion in Stevenson’s ‘Kidnapped’ country