raison d'état
UK/ɹeɪˌzɒ̃ deɪˈtɑː/US/ɹeɪˌzɑn deɪˈtɑː/
raison d'état noun: a state interest, especially when invoked as politically superior to moral or even legal considerations.
Noun
raison d'état
- A state interest, especially when invoked as politically superior to moral or even legal considerations.
- The law as created by the Supreme Court has been nay-saying in fact and in effect, stating in specific instances a series of "thou shalt nots." Not entirely, to be sure, as the cases illustrating raison d'état in American constitutional law tend to indicate, but enough to make the generalization...1975, Philip B. Kurland, editor, The Supreme Court and the Judicial Function
- ‘The western alliance is part of Germany's raison d'état,’ he declared. ‘We've got to take responsibility.[…]’1999 April 3, Ian Traynor, quoting Gerhard Schröder, “Schröder struggles against mounting pacifist anguish”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
Forms of raison d'état
| alternative form | raison d'etat |
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Origin of raison d'état
From French raison d'État (literally “reason of state”).
Questions about raison d'état
- What does raison d'état mean?
- Raison d'état means a state interest, especially when invoked as politically superior to moral or even legal considerations.
- What part of speech is raison d'état?
- Raison d'état is a noun.
- How do you pronounce raison d'état?
- Raison d'état is pronounced /ɹeɪˌzɒ̃ deɪˈtɑː/ (UK).
Words near raison d'état in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: raison d'état (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “raison d'état.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/raison_d%27%C3%A9tat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.