United Nations

[ yoo-nahy-tid ney-shuhnz ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the United Nations (used with a singular verb,) an international organization, with headquarters in New York City, formed to promote international peace, security, and cooperation under the terms of the charter signed by 51 founding countries in San Francisco in 1945, and since then by many more countries. : UN, U.N. Compare General Assembly, Security Council.
(used with a plural verb) the nations that signed the joint declaration in Washington, D.C., January 2, 1942, pledging to employ full resources against the Axis powers, not to make a separate peace, etc.

United Nations

noun

an international organization of independent states, with its headquarters in New York City, that was formed in 1945 to promote peace and international cooperation and security UN
(in World War II) a coalition of 26 nations that signed a joint declaration in Jan 1942, pledging their full resources to defeating the Axis powers

United Nations

An organization that includes virtually all countries in the world, with nearly 190 member nations. Its General Assembly, in which each member nation has one vote, guides policies and finances generally. Another important division of the United Nations is the Security Council , in which five powerful nations have a majority; the Security Council is charged with solving crises and keeping peace. The United Nations also includes an Economic and Social Council; a Secretariat, or administrative division; and the International Court of Justice , or World Court. It also is allied with several agencies that operate independently, such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) , the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

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Notes

The Korean War was officially fought by the United Nations against North Korea .

The United Nations was formed after World War II as a successor to the League of Nations and has served as a forum for many international disputes, notably the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Cuban missile crisis . It also engages in peacekeeping operations by sending lightly armed detachments of soldiers from neutral nations to supervise cease-fires between combatants. Through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), it provides aid for those uprooted by war or famine.

The headquarters of the U.N. are in Manhattan . Some of its affiliates, however, are centered elsewhere. The International Court of Justice sits in The Hague . UNHCR is headquartered in Geneva , and UNESCO in Paris .

A twenty-eight nation coalition of United Nations member states opposed Iraq 's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. ( See Persian Gulf War .)

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Compare Meanings

How does United Nations compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

League of Nations vs. United Nations

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Example Sentences

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Extraordinary rendition violates the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which explicitly prohibits sending someone to another country to be mistreated or tortured.

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"It was easier to get support from the United Nations than our own student union," Ms Listrat said.

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Li, 58, previously served as a deputy permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva and has held several key jobs in the commerce ministry.

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Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the underlying treaties establishing the United Nations Environment Programme are among these, he said.

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This includes working for the British embassy in Beirut and the United Nations agency for Palestinian migrants and refugees.

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United Methodist Church United Nations Children's Fund

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