The capital of Kiribati, an island group of the western Pacific Ocean, formerly known as the Gilbert Islands. It was occupied by the Japanese in 1942 and retaken by U.S. Marines after a hard-fought battle in November 1943.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
