Definition of: United Nations

1. A coalition to resist the military aggression of the Axis Powers in World War II, formed of 26 national states in January, 1942.
2. An international organization of sovereign states (originally called the United Nations Organization) created by the United Nations Charter drafted in September–October, 1944, at Dumbarton Oaks and adopted at San Francisco in May and June, 1945: the 26 states of the United Nations coalition and 25 others form the original membership.
Membership (1945): Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Belorussian S.S.R., Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China (Taiwan), Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa (Union of South Africa), Syria, Turkey, Ukrainian S.S.R., United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, U.S.S.R., Venezuela, Yugoslavia; (1946) Afghanistan, Iceland, Sweden, Thailand; (1947) Pakistan, Yemen; (1948) Myanmar (Burma); (1949) Israel; (1950) Indonesia; (1955) Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kampuchea (Cambodia), Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sri Lanka (Ceylon); (1956) Japan, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia; (1957) Ghana, Malaysia (Malaya); (1958) Guinea; (1960) Benin (Dahomey), Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Cyprus, Gabon, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Togo, Zaire (Belgian Congo); (1961) Mauritania, Mongolia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania (Tanganyika, merged in 1964 with Zanzibar, member 1963); (1962) Algeria, Burundi, Jamaica, Rwanda, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda; (1963) Kenya, Kuwait; (1964) Malawi, Malta, Zambia; (1965) Gambia, Maldives, Singapore; (1966) Barbados, Botswana, Guyana, Lesotho; (1967) Democratic Yemen; (1968) Equatorial Guinea, Mauritius, Swaziland; (1970) Fiji; (1971) Bahrain, Bhutan, China (People's Republic, replaced Taiwan), Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates; (1973) Bahamas, Germany (German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of); (1974) Bangladesh, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau; (1975) Cape Verde, Comoros, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, São Tome and Príncipe; Suriname; (1976) Angola, Samoa, Seychelles; (1977) Djibouti, Vietnam; (1978) Dominica, Solomon Islands; (1979) St. Lucia; (1980) St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Zimbabwe; (1981) Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Vanuatu; (1983) St. Kitts and Nevis; ( 1984) Brunei. Also called UN.