== Different meanings and proposed move == 

 I am apparently meant to take Zebedee's word for it that the most common meaning of nation is that of referring to a sovereign state, for he offers no source for his assertion. This is certainly not the impression I get from the dictionaries I've canvassed. Dictionary.com provides the following definitions for "nation": 

  

  

 The Oxford English Dictionary provides the following definitions under the heading "A people or group of peoples; a political state" 

  

 While the term clearly is strongly associated with the sovereign state, there are many other elements of the definitions which have to be ignored if the nation as sovereign state simpliciter  is adopted. If nothing else the older definition ("A nation is a group of people who share culture, ethnicity and language, often possessing or seeking its own independent government.") is vindicated in how it sought to associated the elements of people and state rather than separating them out. 

 IMHO the best way to deal with the different sovereign-state meaning would be to provide a headnote directing readers toward the sovereign-state article (which already deals that subject) and deal with the core meaning here. Failing that we should move this article to something like "Nation (sociology)", and put Nation (disambiguation) at "Nation". This is the way terms should be disambiguated. —