Great Britain

===Modern use of the term ''Great Britain''===
''Great Britain'' refers geographically to the island of Great Britain. Politically, it may refer to the whole of [[England]], [[Scotland]] and [[Wales]], including their smaller offshore islands.<ref>{{Cite book|title=UK 2005: The Official Yearbook of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|place=London|publisher=Office for National Statistics|pages=vii|date= 29 November 2004|isbn = 978-0-11-621738-7|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/social-trends-rd/the-official-yearbook-of-the-united-kingdom/2005-edition/index.html|access-date=27 May 2012}}</ref> It is not technically correct to use the term to refer to the whole of the [[United Kingdom]] which includes [[Northern Ireland]], though the Oxford English Dictionary states "...the term is also used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom."<ref name=oed>{{citation|url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Great-Britain?q=Great+Britain|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004223902/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Great-Britain?q=Great+Britain|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 October 2013|title=Oxford English Dictionary|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|quote=Great Britain: England, Wales, and Scotland considered as a unit. The name is also often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom.<br />Great Britain is the name of the island that comprises England, Scotland, and Wales, although the term is also used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is a political unit that includes these countries and Northern Ireland. The British Isles is a geographical term that refers to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and surrounding smaller islands such as the Hebrides and the Channel Islands.}}</ref><ref name=brock>{{citation|first=Colin|last=Brock|title=Geography of Education: Scale, Space and Location in the Study of Education|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=London|date=2018|quote=The political territory of Northern Ireland is not part of Britain, but is part of the nation 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' (UK). Great Britain comprises England, Scotland and Wales.}}</ref>

Similarly, ''[[Britain (disambiguation)|Britain]]'' can refer to either all islands in Great Britain, the largest island, or the political grouping of countries.<ref>{{citation|publisher=Oxford English Dictionary|quote=Britain:/ˈbrɪt(ə)n/ the island containing England, Wales, and Scotland. The name is broadly synonymous with Great Britain, but the longer form is more usual for the political unit.|url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/Britain|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722120139/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/Britain|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 July 2011|title=Britain}}</ref> There is no clear distinction, even in government documents: the UK government yearbooks have used both ''Britain''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Britain 2001:The Official Yearbook of the United Kingdom, 2001 |place=London |publisher=Office for National Statistics |pages=vii |date=August 2000 |isbn=978-0-11-621278-8 |url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/britain2001.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313045848/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/britain2001.pdf |archive-date=13 March 2011 }}</ref> and ''United Kingdom''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=UK 2002: The Official Yearbook of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |place=London |publisher=Office for National Statistics |pages=vi |date=August 2001 |isbn=978-0-11-621738-7 |url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/UK2005/UK2005.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070322170244/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/UK2005/UK2005.pdf |archive-date=22 March 2007 }}</ref>

''GB'' and ''GBR'' are used instead of ''UK'' in some international codes to refer to the United Kingdom, including the [[Universal Postal Union]], international sports teams, [[NATO]], and the [[International Organization for Standardization]] country codes [[ISO 3166-2:GB|ISO 3166-2]] and [[ISO 3166-1 alpha-3]], whilst the [[List of aircraft registration prefixes|aircraft registration prefix]] is G.

On the Internet, [[.uk]] is the [[country code top-level domain]] for the United Kingdom. A [[.gb]] top-level domain was used to a limited extent, but is now deprecated; although existing registrations still exist (mainly by government organizations and email providers), the domain name registrar will not take new registrations.

In the Olympics, ''[[Team GB]]'' is used by the [[British Olympic Association]] to represent the [[Great Britain at the Olympics|British Olympic team]]. The [[Olympic Council of Ireland|Olympic Federation of Ireland]] represents the whole [[Ireland|island of Ireland]], and Northern Irish sportspeople may choose to compete for either team,<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/2004/oct/21/olympic-games-participation HL Deb 21 October 2004 vol 665 c99WA] Hansard</ref> most choosing to represent Ireland.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-19019557|title=Who's who? Meet Northern Ireland's Olympic hopefuls in Team GB and Team IRE|website=[[BBC Online|www.BBC.co.uk]]|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=28 July 2012}}</ref>