Independence

How it is used

Countries declare, gain, win or achieve independence, often after a war of independence or long negotiations. A declaration of independence announces it formally, and other states then recognise it. Independence Day is a national holiday in many countries.

Example sentences

1. The thirteen colonies declared their independence from Britain in 1776.

2. India gained independence in 1947 after decades of political struggle.

Common collocations

• declare independence
• gain independence
• war of independence
• declaration of independence
• recognise independence

Related terms

• sovereigntySupreme authority over a territory and its people, including the right to make laws and to govern without control from any outside power.
• nationalismThe idea that people who share a language, culture or history form a nation, and that this nation should have its own state or govern itself.
• decolonizationThe process by which colonies became independent states, especially in Asia and Africa in the decades after the Second World War.
• colonyA territory ruled by another, usually distant, state, or a settlement founded by people from another country who stay under its control.

More terms: Revolutions and Political Change

• revolution
• uprising
• reform
• coup
• regime