South American nation vs South American country

South American nation and South American country both are nouns.

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

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

South American nation and South American country: any one of the countries occupying the South American continent

South American nation (noun)	South American country (noun)
any one of the countries occupying the South American continent	any one of the countries occupying the South American continent