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Belize

Syllabification: (Be·lize)
Pronunciation: /bəˈlēz/
Translate Belize | into Italian
Definition of Belize
  • a country in northeastern Central America, on the coast of the Caribbean Sea; population 307,900 (est. 2009); capital, Belmopan; languages, English (official), Creole, Spanish. Former name (until 1973) British Honduras.

Proclaimed as a British Crown Colony in 1862, Belize became independent within the Commonwealth of Nations in 1981. Guatemala, on the west and south, has always claimed the territory on the basis of old Spanish treaties, although in 1992 it agreed to recognize the existence of Belize

Derivatives

Belizian

Pronunciation: /-zēən/
adjective & noun

Origin:

named after a river with a Mayan name meaning 'muddy water'

Belize in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of Belize in the British & World English dictionary