America is a continent. The United States of America (USA), nicknamed just "America" by many, is a country in North America.
In the English language, especially English speaking countries, it's very much accepted as meaning a country. However, I notice in Latin American countries they seem to understand the definition of America as North and South America. Such as meaning "the Americas". So, to answer your question, it could mean either depending on where you live.
Where I live, "America" is a continent and "American" is anyone who lives in either North or South America.
It is both, depending on who you ask. The lack of a decent demonym for people from the United States other than Americans exacerbates this problem. My rule is just accepting whatever each person believes on the subject, as those from "North America" will think one way and those from "South America" will probably think a different way and neither is wrong.
Ouch. The age old problem of little knowledge. Please note that I'm not trying to offend the OP or anyone here. People don't have a lot of general knowledge nowadays and that is not a major problem. I for one am a fountain of useless facts and general knowledge that won't really help me in day to day things, but can dazzle people in discussions. In the case of America, since North-South-Central America are all interconnected, one can argue that it is the American Continent or American Supercontinent, however you want to put it. Then again I agree with BryanM. It can be called either way and can be anything. It isn't necessary everyone have to refer to it by the same name.
Consider Canada. It is common, even predominant, for Canadians to refer to citizens of the United States as "Americans." It's fairly common for Canadians to refer to the nation, United States, as "the states." Many educated Canadians, when meaning to refer to both the United States and Canada, say "North America," generally omitting the presence of Mexico unless they implicitly expect it to be included. The geographers among us can define what a continent is. North America contains more than one country.
Two, actually. "Americas" would make more sense, but by itself, many would assume you meant United States of America.
Neither, actually. Technically, "North America" is a continent and "The United States of America" is a country. However, a common abbreviation for "The United States of America" is "America", so if someone says "America", they are most likely talking about the country.
Actually, I know plenty of people in North America that would disagree, about 120 million of people in Mexico (which is also part of North America) do not consider the USA as "America", so this is even more confusing. ---------- Post added 5th Jun 2016 at 09:04 PM ---------- I know plenty of people from so many different countries that do not refer to the USA as "America"
@edy So what would be the demonym of someone from the United States? Even the definition of what is a "continent" is debatable.
Well, I doubt Mexicans refer to Brazilians as... Americans, at least before their nationality. You're sort of grouping together many different cultures that take a bit of pride in their own individuality. But yes, when you hear someone complain, "Damn Americans" or whatever, it's almost always referring to those from the USA, and not... Jamaica.
We do, unless we know what your nationality is, we simply call ourselves "Americans". We use "United Statian" instead when referring to a US citizen.
I believe you're from Mexico. In Spanish it is easier to label certain people's demonyms. From the US, estadounidense; Netherlands, neerlandés. The same is not possible in English. Plus in Mexico, the official name is United Mexican States. Who in your country calls themselves, estadounidomexicano?
Not to go all jingoistic, but name me a country in the Americas that is older and used legally the name "America" as part of their name? We could at least invoke primogeniture and/or "dibs."
Maybe it depends on the vernacular of the area. Someone from Mexico, for example, could say America and be talking about the continent, while someone from USA could say America and be talking about the country.
Depends on the context. Many people shorten "United States of America" to "America." Examples: "I'm going to visit the Americas" -I would interpret this to vaguely mean anywhere in North or South America. Probably Latin America or South America. "I'm going to visit America" -I would interpret this to mean they are going to visit the USA. It probably depends on the group of people you ask in addition to context. I hope that helps you with you studies of the English language.
"America"...I suppose technically would be two continents--North and South America. "The United States of America" is a country. A lot of people here use "America" to mean the country, but personally I prefer to use "The US" or "The United States".