Definitions

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

  • A country of central Africa astride the equator. Inhabited originally by Pygmy peoples and later by migrating Bantu and Nilotic groups, the region came under the control of Leopold II of Belgium in the late 1870s and was annexed outright in 1908. Full independence was achieved in 1960. Army general Mobutu Sese Seko took control of the country in 1965, ruling until his ouster by rebel forces in 1997. Kinshasa is the capital and the largest city.
  • A country of west-central Africa with a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. It was part of French Equatorial Africa before becoming independent in 1960. A Marxist state was established in 1970, but in the early 1990s Marxism was abandoned in favor of a multiparty system, and a new constitution was adopted. Brazzaville is the capital and the largest city.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as congo-eel.
  • noun A member of the race of negroes indigenous to Congo, a country of western Africa, bordering on the Atlantic ocean and the river Congo.
  • noun [l. c] [Cuban congo.] A kind of African dance. See the extracts.

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

  • proper noun Country in Central Africa with Brazzaville as capital. Official name: Republic of the Congo.
  • proper noun Country in Central Africa with Kinshasa as capital (formerly Zaire). Official name: Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • proper noun A large river in Africa which flows for about 4,380 km (2,720 miles) to the Atlantic Ocean in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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

  • noun a major African river (one of the world's longest); flows through Congo into the South Atlantic
  • noun black tea grown in China
  • noun a republic in central Africa; achieved independence from Belgium in 1960
  • noun a republic in west-central Africa; achieved independence from France in 1960

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

After Kongo, believed to derive from Kongo nkongo ("hunters").

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Examples

  • Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters CONGO CHILDREN: Girls displaced by war stood at a makeshift camp near Goma, Congo, Wednesday.

    Today's Photos: Feb. 11 2009

  • Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters CONGO CONFLICT: A wounded government soldier sat in a hospital Wednesday, one day after militia-troop clashes in Kayna, Congo.

    Today's Photos: Nov. 19 2008

  • Karel Prinsloo/Associated Press CONGO COMBAT DRILLS: Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda's soldiers showed off their training during a mock attack Thursday at their Tebero, Congo, base.

    Today's Photos: Nov. 6 2008

  • Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters CONGO CASUALTY: Refugees walked past the body of a Congolese government soldier on a road near Kibati, Congo, Wednesday.

    Today's Photos: Nov. 12 2008

  • Jerome Delay/Associated Press CONGO ORPHANS: Orphans and children separated from their parents in the Congo conflict rested Thursday at a center in Goma.

    Today's Photos: Nov. 13 2008

  • CONGO: The U.N. has an 18,400-strong mission operating in Congo, its largest in the world.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2007

  • DIDIER GONDOLA, AUTHOR, "THE HISTORY OF CONGO": A short answer would be that Congo has been cursed by its natural resources and that's why one of the reasons why so much violence has taken place in that country.

    CNN Transcript Oct 3, 2006 2006

  • OLIVIER KAMITATU, ARC ALLIANCE OF CONGO: It was difficult at the time to convince my good friend, Jean-Pierre Bemba, to promote a real coalition to change Congo, to go straight for elections and to be the main political forces to bring a real change in our country.

    CNN Transcript Jul 29, 2006 2006

  • DIDIER GONDOLA, AUTHOR, "HISTORY OF CONGO": A short answer would be that Congo has been cursed by its natural resources, and that's why - one of the reasons why so much violence has taken place in that country.

    CNN Transcript Oct 28, 2006 2006

  • DIDIER GONDOLA, AUTHOR, "HISTORY OF CONGO": The short answer would be that Congo has been cursed by its natural resources.

    CNN Transcript Oct 6, 2006 2006

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