constituent countries

Noun

constituent country (plural constituent countries)

1. Any country that is a subdivision of a larger sovereign state.
   • the constituent countries of the Kingdom of Denmark
   1. An administrative division of the United Kingdom: one of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
      • The United Kingdom is a unitary state composed of four constituent countries (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) and three devolved administrations (Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales), having their own elected assembly and government since the devolution process in 1998.United Kingdom Unitary Country, oecd.orghttps://www.oecd.org/regional/regional-policy/profile-United-Kingdom.pdf
   2. A land of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, of which there are four: the Netherlands proper (comprising its twelve European provinces and the three BES Islands of the Caribbean Netherlands: Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba) and the three Caribbean island countries of Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten.
2. A sovereign country as a member of a larger organization.
   • European Union An economic union with the principal objectives of free movement of goods, capital, and labor. The constituent countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, ...European Union - MeSH - NCBIhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D005062