Eastern European nation, name taken officially in 1861 at the union of Wallachia and Moldavia, from Latin Romani "people from Rome," which was used to describe the descendants of colonists there from Roman times; see Roman + -ia. In early use often Rumania, or, from French, Roumania. Related: Romanian; Rumanian; Roumanian.
Capital of Romania and largest city in the country, located in south-central Romania on a tributary of the Danube River; Romania's chief industrial and communications center.
Republic in southeastern Europe on the northeast Balkan Peninsula, bordered by Hungary to the northwest, Ukraine to the northeast, Moldova and the Black Sea to the east, Bulgaria to the south, and the former Yugoslavia to the southwest. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest.
Note: During World War II, Romania was allied to the Axis Powers but joined the Allies in 1944.
Note: Occupied by Soviet troops in 1944, Romania became a people's republic on the model of the Soviet Union in 1947.
Note: A former Eastern Bloc country, Romania was ruled in the 1970s and 1980s by communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who was overthrown and executed during a bloody revolution in 1989. (See collapse of communism.)