GHANA Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com (original) (raw)

[gah-n_uh_, gan-_uh_] / ˈgɑ nə, ˈgæn ə /

noun

a republic in West Africa comprising the former colonies of the Gold Coast and Ashanti, the protectorate of the Northern Territories, and the U.N. trusteeship of British Togoland: member of the Commonwealth of Nations since 1957. 91,843 sq. mi. (237,873 sq. km). Accra.
Kingdom of Ghana, a medieval western African empire extending from near the Atlantic coast almost to Timbuktu; flourished from about the 9th to 12th centuries.

noun

a republic in W Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea: a powerful empire from the 4th to the 13th centuries; a major source of gold and slaves for Europeans after 1471; British colony of the Gold Coast established in 1874; united with British Togoland in 1957 and became a republic and a member of the Commonwealth in 1960. Official language: English. Religions: Christian, Muslim, and animist. Currency: cedi. Capital: Accra. Pop: 25 199 609 (2013 est). Area: 238 539 sq km (92 100 sq miles)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Nation in western Africa bordered to the north by Burkina Faso, to the east by Togo, to the south by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west by the Ivory Coast. Its capital and largest city is Accra.

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It was colonized as the Gold Coast by Britain.

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Some embassies, in Ghana, Zimbabwe and a handful of other places, began publishing posts on X that quickly went viral.

FromThe Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026

There’s also an opportunity for deeper security partnerships with other nearby countries, including Mauritania, Ghana, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

FromThe Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

Bass, who was in Ghana on Jan. 7, 2025, the day the fire broke out, said her absence from the city was “one of the worst moments” of her life.

FromLos Angeles Times • May 6, 2026

African Lion, the continent's largest annual joint military exercise, is hosted across Morocco, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia.

FromBBC • May 3, 2026

The waves made it impossible to swim in a straight line, and the western shore of the lake was in a different region of Ghana!

From"Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023