noun
- the part of the American continents south of the United States in which Spanish, Portuguese, or French is officially spoken.
noun
- those areas of America whose official languages are Spanish and Portuguese, derived from Latin: South America, Central America, Mexico, and certain islands in the Caribbean
1862; see Latin (adj.). Related: Latin American (adj.), 1871. A term applied to all of the Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking nations south of the United States.