mother country

1. N-COUNT Someone's mother country is the country in which they or their ancestors were born and to which they still feel emotionally linked, even if they live somewhere else. 祖國(guó); 故土[oft with poss]

Dr. Kengerli looks to Turkey as his mother country. 肯戈理博士視土耳其為自己的祖國(guó)。

2. N-SING If you refer to the mother country of a particular state or country, you are referring to the very powerful country that used to control its affairs. (控制別國(guó)的)母國(guó); 宗主國(guó)[usu 'the' N]

Australia, New Zealand, and Canada had no colonial conflict with the mother country. 澳大利亞、新西蘭和加拿大與它們的宗主國(guó)之間沒有發(fā)生過殖民沖突。