n.
An administrative territorial division within Russia and other former Soviet republics, including Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.
[Russian oblast', from Old Church Slavonic oblastĭ : ob, on + vlastĭ, power.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
