Meanings
plural Examplestans
- informalrareA placeholder name for a country; a hypothetical country.
Examplestan recently increased its production of houses from 1,000 to 1,200 houses. Economists estimate that for each of the new houses (numbers 1,001 to 1,200) produced, Examplestan had to give up three tons of food.
2013, Jonh Lovett, “Study Questions”, in Horizons in Macroeconomics: An Introduction to the Macroeconomy, 2nd edition, Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 3292 more examples
Okay, imagine that there's a guy who will, if given the chance, kill a few million of your people, and you could stop him, but he's living in Examplestan, and the Examplestani goverment says "oh, no, we're not going to let him attack you".
2001 September 14, Peter Seebach, “Re: That event”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (Usenet)As a way of making the Ground Rules more concrete, work through the following facts and the questions that follow. Ten manufacturers located in the State of Examplestan are engaged in the manufacture of cement mix. Among them they have for some time managed to meet that State’s entire cement mix needs.
2011, Christopher L. Sagers, “A Two-Part Strategy for Understanding Antitrust Economics” (chapter 2), in Antitrust (Examples & Explanations), Frederick, Md.: Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, →ISBN, page 26Synonyms: Exampleland, Republic of Example
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA placeholder name for a country; a hypothetical country.
Origin
From example + -stan (“used to form fictitious or metaphoric country names”).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Examplestan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Examplestan
“Examplestan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Examplestan. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Examplestan,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Examplestan.
Source: Examplestan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.