European nation vs Europe

European nation and Europe both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
European nation	Yes	No	No	No
Europe	Yes	No	No	No

European nation (noun)	Europe (noun)
any one of the countries occupying the European continent	an international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members
	the nations of the European continent collectively
	the 2nd smallest continent (actually a vast peninsula of Eurasia); the British use `Europe' to refer to all of the continent except the British Isles