a country in central Europe: in the Middle Ages the centre of the Holy Roman Empire; dissolved into numerous principalities; united under the leadership of Prussia in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War; became a republic with reduced size in 1919 after being defeated in World War I; under the dictatorship of Hitler from 1933 to 1945; defeated in World War II and divided by the Allied Powers into four zones, which became established as East and West Germany in the late 1940s; reunified in 1990: a member of the European Union. It is flat and low-lying in the north with plateaus and uplands (including the Black Forest and the Bavarian Alps) in the centre and south. Official language: German. Religion: Christianity. Currency: euro. Capital: Berlin. Pop: 82 114 224 (2017 est). Area: 357 041 sq km (137 825 sq miles)
German name: Deutschland. Official name: Federal Republic of Germany. See also East Germany, West Germany ▶ Related adjective: Teutonic
Germany in American English
(ˈdʒɜrməni)
Word forms: pluralˈGermanys or ˈGermanies
country in NC Europe, on the North & Baltic seas; since reunification in 1990, comprising 16 states: formerly divided (1945) into four zones of occupation, administered respectively by France, Britain, the U.S., & the U.S.S.R., and partitioned (1949-90) into the Federal Republic of Germany, made up of the three western zones (British, French, & U.S.), also called West Germany; and the German Democratic Republic, comprising the eastern (U.S.S.R.) zone, also called East Germany: 137,822 sq mi (356,959 sq km); pop. 80,975,000; cap. Berlin: official name Federal Republic of Germany