North American country vs North American nation

North American country and North American nation both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
North American country	Yes	No	No	No
North American nation	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, North American country and North American nation are synonyms defined as:

North American country and North American nation: any country on the North American continent

North American country (noun)	North American nation (noun)
any country on the North American continent	any country on the North American continent