Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • An island country in the Caribbean Sea south of Florida. Originally settled by Arawak Indians, it was claimed for Spain by Columbus in 1492 and was colonized beginning in 1511. Spain relinquished its control of Cuba in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American War, and following a three-year occupation by US forces, the island became self-governing in 1902. Fulgencio Batista dominated the government of Cuba from 1933 until 1959, when a revolution led by Fidel Castro established a Marxist-Leninist state. Havana is the capital and the largest city.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • proper noun a country on the island of Cuba.
  • proper noun the largest island in the West Indies.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A country and the largest island in the Caribbean. Official name: Republic of Cuba.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the largest island in the West Indies
  • noun a communist state in the Caribbean on the island of Cuba

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Disputed; likely from Taíno cubao ("abundant fertile land") or coabana ("great place").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Cuba.

Examples

  • ANN LOUISE BARDACH, BROOKINGS CUBA STUDY PROJECT: Well, there's no question that Cuba looks forward to having increased travel and contact with the U.S.

    CNN Transcript Nov 19, 2009 2009

  • DAN ERICKSON, AUTHOR, "THE CUBA WARS": So, you have American tourists traveling on to Cuba to drive around on Chinese buses, stay in Spanish hotels, eat Canadian food.

    CNN Transcript Nov 19, 2009 2009

  • DAN ERIKSON, AUTHOR, "THE CUBA WARS": So you have American tourists traveling on to Cuba, to drive around on Chinese buses, stay in Spanish hotels, eat Canadian food.

    CNN Transcript Mar 31, 2009 2009

  • DAN ERIKSON, AUTHOR, "THE CUBA WARS": Americans tourists traveling to Cuba, drive around on Chinese buses, stay in Spanish hotels, eat Canadian food.

    CNN Transcript Mar 31, 2009 2009

  • RAUL CASTRO, PRESIDENT OF CUBA (through translator): They didn't elect me president to restore capitalism to Cuba, nor to surrender the revolution.

    CNN Transcript Aug 3, 2009 2009

  • DAN ERIKSON, AUTHOR, "THE CUBA WARS": So you have American tourists traveling on to Cuba, to drive around on Chinese buses, stay in Spanish hotels, eat Canadian food.

    CNN Transcript Mar 31, 2009 2009

  • From Teddy Roosevelt to Jimmy Buffett, with contributions from Ernest Hemingway, Meyer Lansky and the U.S. officers who first mixed rum and Coke to form a cuba libre, Americans have spent nearly a century confused about whether Cuba is really a foreign country at all.

    How Do We Get To The Endgame? 2008

  • Had too much wine but there was a cuba event, Operation something where the Pentagon planned to down one of our own planes and blame it on Castro to start a war with Cuba.

    Firedoglake » Late Nite FDL: What Was That About “No Underlying Crime?” 2006

  • MINISTERS AND SECOND SECRETARY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CUBA CENTRAL COMMITTEE yohandryweb. wordpress.com Publicado el Abril 4, 2010 por Yohandry Fontana As I said at the beginning, the celebration of this Congress has coincided with a huge smearing campaign against Cuba, a campaign orchestrated, directed and financed by the imperial power centers in the United States and Europe, hypocritically waging the banners of human rights.

    WN.com - Photown News 2010

  • MINISTERS AND SECOND SECRETARY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CUBA CENTRAL COMMITTEE yohandryweb. wordpress.com Publicado el Abril 4, 2010 por Yohandry Fontana As I said at the beginning, the celebration of this Congress has coincided with a huge smearing campaign against Cuba, a campaign orchestrated, directed and financed by the imperial power centers in the United States and Europe, hypocritically waging the banners of human rights.

    WN.com - Photown News 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.