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Laos - 5 dictionary results

La⋅os

  [lah-ohs, lous, ley-os; Fr. la-aws]
Use Laos in a Sentence
–noun
a country in SE Asia: formerly part of French Indochina. 5,116,959; 91,500 sq. mi. (236,985 sq. km). Capital: Vientiane.

Lao

  [lou]
–noun, plural Laos  [louz] , (especially collectively) Lao for 1.
1. a member of a people of Laos and northern Thailand.
2. the language of these people, belonging to the Thai group of languages.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Lao   (lou)   
n.   pl. Lao or Laos (louz)
  1. A member of a Buddhist people inhabiting the area of the Mekong River in Laos and Thailand.
  2. The Tai language of the Lao.
adj.  Of or relating to the Lao or their language or culture.

[Lao Láo, perhaps from láo, person (unattested sense), third person common-gender pronoun.]
La·os   (lous, lā'ŏs')   


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A country of southeast Asia. Originally part of the Khmer Empire, the region became a powerful Lao kingdom (14th-15th century) and was later incorporated into French Indochina in 1893. Laos gained its independence in 1953, but a Communist uprising soon drew the country into a civil war, and a Communist state was established in 1975. Vientiane is the capital and the largest city. Population: 6,520,000.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Laos [(lows, lah-ohs)]

Mountainous, landlocked republic in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma to the northwest, China to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. Its capital and largest city is Vientiane.

Note: Part of French Indochina from 1893 to 1949, it was granted full sovereignty in 1954.
Note: Civil war among communist and noncommunist factions in the 1950s and 1960s attracted extensive covert aid from the Soviet Union, China, and the United States.
Note: During the Vietnam War, Vietnamese communists established the Ho Chi Minh Trail through the remote mountains of Laos to channel troops and supplies from North Vietnam to South Vietnam.
Note: The communist Pathet Lao, with long-standing close ties to the Vietnamese communists, have been in power since 1975.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
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