If you care, you definitely need to specify what you mean, e.g. the British gameshow "Pointless" has a catch phrase: "And by 'country' we mean a sovereign stat

If you care, you definitely need to specify what you mean, e.g. the British gameshow "Pointless" has a catch phrase: "And by 'country' we mean a sovereign state that is a member of the UN in its own right" So if you're asked for "country names ending in land" on the show they'll invariably remind you of the definition and you ought to then know Scotland is plain wrong, whereas Ireland is a reasonable although obvious (so not "Pointless") attempt to answer.