Common Market, EC, EEC, European Community, European Economic Community, European Union, EU, Europe - an international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members; "he took Britain into Europe"

NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization - an international organization created in 1949 by the North Atlantic Treaty for purposes of collective security

Benelux - a customs union comprising BElgium and NEtherlands and LUXembourg

European country, European nation - countries occupying the European continent

Amsterdam, capital of The Netherlands, Dutch capital - an industrial center and the nominal capital of the Netherlands; center of the diamond-cutting industry; seat of an important stock exchange; known for its canals and art museum

Apeldoorn - a city of east central Netherlands; a popular tourist center and site of the summer residence of the Dutch royal family

Arnhem - a city in the central Netherlands on the lower Rhine River; site of a battle in 1944 during World War II

's Gravenhage, Den Haag, The Hague - the site of the royal residence and the de facto capital in the western part of the Netherlands; seat of the International Court of Justice

Eindhoven - city in southeastern Netherlands noted for electrical industry

Nijmegen - an industrial city in the eastern Netherlands

Rotterdam - the 2nd largest city in the Netherlands; located in the western Netherlands near the North Sea

Leiden, Leyden - a city in the western Netherlands; residence of the Pilgrim Fathers for 11 years before they sailed for America in 1620

Utrecht - a city in the central Netherlands

Friesland - one of the northernmost provinces of the Netherlands

Frisian Islands - a chain of islands in the North Sea off the coast of northwestern Europe extending from the IJsselmeer to Jutland

Europe - the 2nd smallest continent (actually a vast peninsula of Eurasia); the British use `Europe' to refer to all of the continent except the British Isles

Hoek van Holland, Hook of Holland - a cape on the southwestern coast of the Netherlands near Rotterdam

IJssel, IJssel river - a river in the central Netherlands flowing north to the IJsselmeer

IJsselmeer - a shallow lake in northwestern Netherlands created in 1932 by building a dam across the entrance to the Zuider Zee

Meuse, Meuse River - a European river; flows into the North Sea

Rhein, Rhine River, Rhine - a major European river carrying more traffic than any other river in the world; flows into the North Sea

Dutchman, Hollander, Netherlander - a native or inhabitant of Holland