From national +‎ -ity, perhaps after French nationalité; ultimately from Latin nātio (“nation, people”).

• IPA^(key): /ˌnæʃ.əˈnæl.ɪ.ti/, /ˌnæʃˈnæl.ɪ.ti/, /-ˈnæl.ə.ti/, /-ˈnæl.ti/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: na‧tion‧al‧i‧ty, na‧tion‧al‧ity

nationality (plural nationalities)

1. (now rare) National, i.e. ethnic and/or cultural, character or identity. [from 17th c.]
   • 1968, Sayyid Jamāl ad-Dīn, “Answer of Jamāl ad-Dīn to Renan”, in Nikki R. Keddie, translated by Nikki R. Keddie, An Islamic Response to Imperialism‎^[1], University of California Press, →LCCN, page 185:

     […] permit me to say that the Harranians were Arabs and that the Arabs in occupying Spain and Andalusia did not lose their nationality; they remained Arabs. […] The fact that they preserved their former religion, Sabaeanism, does not mean they should be considered foreign to the Arab nationality.

2. (now rare) Nationalism or patriotism. [from 18th c.]
   • 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford, published 2008, page 599:

     ‘You are, to be sure, wonderfully free from that nationality: but so it happens, that you employ the only Scotch shoe-black in London.’

3. National origin or identity; legal membership of a particular nation or state, by origin, birth, naturalization, ownership, allegiance or otherwise. [from 18th c.]

   By living in the country for five years, you are entitled to get nationality.

   Stefi was born in Spain to a Brazilian father and a Chilean mother, so is eligible for three nationalities.

   Please include your nationality on the form.

4. A people sharing a common origin, culture and/or language, and possibly constituting a nation-state. [from 19th c.]
5. (obsolete) Political existence, independence or unity as a national entity. [19th c.]

• (membership of a nation or state): affiliation, allegiance, ancestry, citizenship, descent, enfranchisement, ethnicity, national status, naturalization, origin, parentage, race, residence, status
• (national character or identity): ancestry, color, colour, ethnicity, identity, origin
• (a people): clan, confederation, cultural group, culture, denomination, ethnic group, ethnicity, faith, group, nation, people, persuasion, race, sect, tribe
• (political existence as a national entity): autarchy, autonomy, freedom, independence, liberty, nationhood, self-determination, self-government, self-rule, separation, sovereignty
• (nationalism): nationalism, patriotic sentiment, patriotism,

• nation, national, nationalise, nationalism, nationalist, nationalistic, nationalize
• nationhood
• nation-state
• nationwide

• naturalize