Definitions

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

  • A country of southern Africa. Various Bantu peoples migrated into the area during the first millennium, displacing the earlier San inhabitants. European colonization began in 1889 under the British South Africa Company founded by Cecil Rhodes, and in 1923 it became the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia (often just Rhodesia), which formed part of the colonial federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 1953 to 1963. Rhodesia declared itself independent in 1965, although independence was not formally granted by Great Britain until 1980. Harare is the capital and the largest city.
  • A ruined city of southeast Zimbabwe south of Harare. First occupied by Iron Age peoples in the fourth century AD, it contains extensive remains of walls and towers dating from the 11th to 15th centuries.

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

  • proper noun Country in Southern Africa. Official name: Republic of Zimbabwe. Formerly called Southern Rhodesia or Rhodesia.

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

  • noun a landlocked republic in south central Africa formerly called Rhodesia; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1980

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Shona dzimba-dze-mabwe ("house of stones"), in reference to Great Zimbabwe.

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Examples

  • SIKHANYISO NDLOVU, ZIMBABWE INFORMATION: We are turning the economy, the economy turnaround and you, the CNN, have the tendency of taking the old pictures from other African countries and Darfur and say this is happening in Zimbabwe and that is totally a lie which you have been perpetrating.

    CNN Transcript Mar 29, 2008 2008

  • ZIMBABWE GOVERNMENT TO CURB OCCUPATION OF WHITE-OWNED FARMS he government in Zimbabwe has agreed to take sweeping measures to curb the occupation of white-owned farms and violence against farmers and their workers, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported Friday.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2001

  • ZIMBABWE TRADE FAIR - Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, 5 May 2000, 2000

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2000

  • APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) ­Zimbabwe has paid part of its arrears for international telecommunications links, ending a week-long disruption to internet traffic that had hurt business and personal communications.

    cellular-news 2009

  • To all the women in zimbabwe regardless of what party you support this is a great day Zimbabwe has a female vice president, and from the looks of things it will have a female deputy Premier

    Zimbabwe Telegraph and ZimDaily Forums 2008

  • Mr. Hugo Swire (East Devon) (Con): While the situation in Zimbabwe is tragically worsening by the hour, the United Nations Security Council remains paralysed by China and by Russia.

    Answer the fucking question... Not a sheep 2008

  • Mr. Hugo Swire (East Devon) (Con): While the situation in Zimbabwe is tragically worsening by the hour, the United Nations Security Council remains paralysed by China and by Russia.

    Archive 2008-06-01 Not a sheep 2008

  • The terror in Zimbabwe is horrific whether or not it resembles the Holocaust or ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.

    2007 June 06 « One-Minute Book Reviews 2007

  • A call to vote against the British prime minister in Zimbabwe is code for rejecting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2005

  • Inflation in Zimbabwe is expected to surpass 800 percent by year's end.

    How To Kill A Country 2003

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