Australian

[ aw-streyl-yuhn ]

adjective
  1. of or relating to Australia, its inhabitants, or their languages.

  2. Zoogeography. belonging to a geographical division comprising Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, Papua New Guinea, and adjacent smaller islands.

  1. Phytogeography. belonging or pertaining to a geographical division comprising Australia and Tasmania.

noun
  1. a native or inhabitant of Australia.

  2. an Aboriginal inhabitant of Australia.

  1. Also called Aus·tral·ian Ab·o·rig·i·nal lan·gua·ges [aw-streyl-yuhn ab-uh-rij-uh-nl lang-gwij-iz] /ɔˈstreɪl yən ˌæb əˈrɪdʒ ə nl ˈlæŋ gwɪdʒ ɪz/ . the group of languages of the Aborigines of Australia, consisting of about three hundred languages. Abbreviations: Austral, Austral.

Origin of Australian

1
First recorded in 1690–70 for def. 5; Australi(a) + -an

Other words from Australian

  • an·ti-Aus·tral·ian, adjective, noun
  • pro-Aus·tral·ian, adjective, noun
  • pseu·do-Aus·tral·ian, adjective, noun
  • trans-Aus·tral·ian, adjective
  • un-Aus·tral·ian, adjective

Words Nearby Australian

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Australian in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for Australian

Australian

/ (ɒˈstreɪlɪən) /


noun
  1. a native or inhabitant of Australia

  2. the form of English spoken in Australia

  1. a linguistic phylum consisting of the languages spoken by the native Australians

adjective
  1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Australia, the Australians, or their form of English

  2. of, relating to, or belonging to the phylum of languages spoken by the native Australians

  1. of or denoting a zoogeographical region consisting of Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, New Guinea, and the Moluccas

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012