TUVALU

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Tuvalu mean? 

• TUVALU (noun)
  The noun TUVALU has 2 senses:

1. a small island republic on the Tuvalu islands; formerly part of the British colony of Gilbert and Ellice Islands until it withdrew in 1975 and became independent of the United Kingdom in 1978

2. a group of coral islands in Micronesia to the southwest of Hawaii

  Familiarity information: TUVALU used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TUVALU (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A small island republic on the Tuvalu islands; formerly part of the British colony of Gilbert and Ellice Islands until it withdrew in 1975 and became independent of the United Kingdom in 1978

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Instance hypernyms:

country; land; state (the territory occupied by a nation)

Meronyms (parts of "Tuvalu"):

Funafuti (capital of Tuvalu)

Holonyms ("Tuvalu" is a part of...):

Ellice Islands; Tuvalu (a group of coral islands in Micronesia to the southwest of Hawaii)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A group of coral islands in Micronesia to the southwest of Hawaii

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

Ellice Islands; Tuvalu

Instance hypernyms:

archipelago (a group of many islands in a large body of water)

Meronyms (parts of "Tuvalu"):

Tuvalu (a small island republic on the Tuvalu islands; formerly part of the British colony of Gilbert and Ellice Islands until it withdrew in 1975 and became independent of the United Kingdom in 1978)

Holonyms ("Tuvalu" is a part of...):

Federated States of Micronesia; Micronesia; TT (a country scattered over Micronesia with a constitutional government in free association with the United States; achieved independence in 1986)

 Context examples 

According to the study, fisheries catches are expected to fall by more than 50 per cent by the year 2050 for some countries: the Cook Islands, Micronesia, Niue and Tuvalu.

(Pacific island fish migrating to cooler seas, SciDev.Net)