Word.ws English Dictionary

several states

several states noun: the states of the United States, collectively.

Noun

the several states pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) The states of the United States, collectively.
    • The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, . . . but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; . . . To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states.1787, United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clauses 1 & 3
    • Implicit in this argument is the contention that the Philippines, while belonging to the United States as a sovereign, are not part of it; and that merchandise brought from the Philippines is an import because it originates outside of and is brought into the territory comprising the several states...1945, Hooven & Allison Co. v. Evatt, 324 U.S. 652, 669
  2. (plural, plural-only) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see several, states.

Questions about several states

What does several states mean?
Several states means the states of the United States, collectively.
What part of speech is several states?
Several states is a noun.

Words near several states in the dictionary

  1. severability
  2. severable
  3. several
  4. several fisheries
  5. several fishery
  6. several states
  7. severalfold
  8. severalities
  9. severality
  10. severalize
  11. severalized

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: several states (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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