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Banana Republic

Definition: Banana Republic

Banana Republic

Noun

1. A small country (especially in Central America) that is politically unstable and whose economy is dominated by foreign companies and depends on one export (such as bananas).

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Modern Usage: Banana Republic

DomainUsage

Movie/TV Titles

Banana republic (1979)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Banana republic

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Banana republic (or Bananaland) is a pejorative term for describing a country which has a government imposed upon it by foreign power in a cynical, non-democratic way, and which serves as a form of colony providing some sort of raw natural resources (for example, bananas) in exchange for military support.

The United States government (in particular the Central Intelligence Agency) is often accused maintaining other countries as "banana republics", in Central America, for example, from where the term arose.

Traditionally, the controlling foreign power need not be a state; a corporation such as the United Fruit Company can play the role. The imposition of such an arrangement can be appreciated in a poem by Pablo Neruda, titled "La United Fruit Co." in Spanish.

The term has come to be used to describe a generally unstable or "backwards" dictatorial regime or a country where fraudulent elections are regularly held.

Banana Republic is also the name of a chain of clothing stores owned by The Gap.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Banana republic."

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Non-Fiction Usage: Banana Republic

SubjectTopicQuote

Economic History

Colombia

Manufacturers and licensees of well-known labels from the U.S. and Europe in the Colombian market are: Luigi, Pierre Cardin, Guy Laroche, Yves Saint Laurent, Nautica, Guess, The Limited, Francois Girbaud, Unlimited, Diesel, Tommy Hilfiger, The Gap, Boss, Liz Claiborne, Structure, Banana Republic, Levi's, Dockers, Arrow, Van Heusen, Express, Pepe, Berkshire, Maidenform, Formfit Rogers, Triumph, Benetton, Vassarette, Peter Pan, and Victoria's Secret. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Banana Republic

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

banana republic

9,992

banana republic.com

301

banana republic coupon

137

banana republic outlet

128

banana republic store

69

banana republic clothing

45

banana republic factory store

28

banana republic online

23

banana republic clothing store

22

banana republic shoes

18
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Banana Republic

Language Translations for "banana republic"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

German

  

bananenrepublik. (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

ananabay epublicray.(various references)

   

Russian 

  

малоразвитое государство, банановая республика. (various references)

   

Spanish

  

república bananera. (various references)

   

Turkish

  

ekonomisi meyve ihracatına dayalı küçük ülke. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Anagrams: Banana Republic

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "a-a-a-b-b-c-e-i-l-n-n-p-r-u"

-4 letters: republican.

-5 letters: carnelian, incapable, incunable, incurable, lacunaria, planarian, unbalance.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Alternative Orthography: Banana Republic


Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

42 61 6E 61 6E 61      52 65 70 75 62 6C 69 63

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

    

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01000010 01100001 01101110 01100001 01101110 01100001 00100000 01010010 01100101 01110000 01110101 01100010 01101100 01101001 01100011

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#66 &#97 &#110 &#97 &#110 &#97 &#32 &#82 &#101 &#112 &#117 &#98 &#108 &#105 &#99

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0042 0061 006E 0061 006E 0061      0052 0065 0070 0075 0062 006C 0069 0063

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

36678067806725271828768787569

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Usage: Modern
3. Quotations: Non-fiction
4. Expressions: Internet
5. Translations: Modern
6. Anagrams
7. Orthography
8. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.