state
/steɪt/
state noun: a condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
Noun (1)
state (countable and uncountable, plural states)
- A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
- a state of being
- a state of emergency
- A complete description of a system, consisting of parameters that determine all properties of the system.
- States in which the energy has definite values are called stationary states of a system; they are described by wave functions Ψₙ which are the eigenfunctions of the Hamiltonian operator, i.e. which satisfy the equation ĤΨₙ = EₙΨₙ, where Eₙ are the eigenvalues of the energy.1977, J. B. Sykes; John Stewart Bell, translating Lev Landau; Evgeny Lifshitz, Course of Theoretical Physics Vol. 3: Quantum Mechanics: Non-relativistic Theory, page 28
- A mess; disorder; a bad condition or set of circumstances.
- absolute state
- in a state
- The stable condition of a processor during a particular clock cycle.
- In the fetch state, the address of the next instruction is placed on the address bus.
- The set of all parameters relevant to a computation.
- The state here includes a set containing all names seen so far.
- The values of all parameters at some point in a computation.
- A debugger can show the state of a program at any breakpoint.
- The physical property of matter as solid, liquid, gas or plasma.
- Highest and stationary condition, as that of maturity between growth and decline, or as that of crisis between the increase and the abating of a disease; height; acme.
- Pomp, ceremony, or dignity.
- in state
- The President's body will lie in state at the Capitol.
- Rank; condition; quality.
- And leſned by that ſmall, God I beſeech him, / Thy honor, ſtate, and ſeate, is due to me.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Condition of prosperity or grandeur; wealthy or prosperous circumstances; social importance.
- Firſt, in princely behaviour and geſture, teaching him how he ſhould keep of a kind of ſtate, and yet, with a modeſt ſenſe of his misfortunes.1616, Francis Bacon, The History of Henry VII, of England, published 1786, page 139
- Can this imperious lord forget to reign, / Quit all his ſtate, deſcend, and ſerve again ?1703, “The Thebais of Statius”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Works of Alexander Pope, volume II, London: H. Lintont et al., published 1751, book I, page 145
- A chair with a canopy above it, often standing on a dais; a seat of dignity; also, the canopy itself.
- […]and from the dore / Of that Plutonia Hall, inviſible / Aſcended his high Throne, which under ſtate / Of richeſt texture ſpred, at th’ upper end / Was plac’t in regal luſtre.1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- He invented a way of coming into a Room backwards, which he ſaid ſhew’d more Humility, and leſs Affectation ; where other People ſtood, he ſat ; when he went to Court, he us’d to kick away the State, and ſit down by his Prince, Cheek by Choul[…]1712, John Arbuthnot, Jonathan Swift [uncertain], “Jack’s Charms, or the Method by which he gain’d Peg’s Heart”, in John Bull Still In His Senses, London: John Morphew, page 13
- Synonyms:
- chair of state
- A great person, a dignitary; a lord or prince.
- We in the name of other Perſean ſtates,
And commons of this mightie Monarchy,
Preſent thee with the Emperiall Diadem.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC... - They who to States and Governours of the Commonwealth direct their Speech, High Court of Parlament, or wanting ſuch acceſſe in a private condition, write that which they foreſee may advance the publick good ; I ſuppoſe them as at the beginning of no meane endeavour, not a little alter’d and mov’d...1644, John Milton, Areopagitica, page 1
- We in the name of other Perſean ſtates,
- Estate, possession.
- Their parties great, meanes good, the ſeaſon fit, / Their practice cloſe, their faith ſuſpected not, / Their ſtates far off, and they of wary wit : / Who, with large promiſes, ſo wooe the Scot / To aide their Cauſe, as he conſents to it ; / And glad was to diſturne that furious ſtreame / Of warre...1595, Samuel Daniel, “The Civile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke”, in Alexander Balloch Grosart, editor, The Complete Works in Verse and Prose of Samuel Daniel, volume II, book IV...
- Your ’State, my Lord, again is yours.c. 1619, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, “The Fatal Dowry”, in The Works of Philip Massinger, volume II, London: T. Davies, published 1761, [Act V, scene ii], page 271
- A sovereign country or city state with a central government acting as its head and operator; national issues and affairs as opposed to local ones.
- Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.a. 1949, Albert Einstein, as quoted by Virgil Henshaw in Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist (1949)
- In the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, three of the Soviet Union's fifteen constituent republics, last year's most dangerous fantasies have been sanctioned by the government itself.1989 May, Priit J. Vesilind, “The Baltic: Arena of Power”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 604
- A political division of a federation retaining a notable degree of autonomy, as in the United States, Mexico, Nigeria, or India.
- His alibi is that he was out of state the night of the murder.
- The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.1789, United States Bill of Rights
- A form of government other than a monarchy.
- Well monarchies may own religion’s name, / But ſtates are atheiſts in their very frame.1662, John Dryden, “Satire on the Dutch”, in The Works of the English Poets, volume XIII, London: R. Hett, published 1779, page 41
- A society larger than a tribe. A society large enough to form a state in the sense of a government.
- An element of the range of the random variables that define a random process.
- The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that do not change over time.
- […]distinctions among states of affairs are reflected to a striking degree in distinctions among Aktionsart types. That is, situations are expressed by state verbs or predicates, events by achievement verbs or predicates, and actions by activity verbs or predicates.1997, Robert van Valin, Randy LaPolla, Syntax, page 92
- The most basic Aktionsart distinction is between states and occurrences.2010, Nick Riemer, Introducing Semantics, page 320
- Antonyms:
- occurrence
Verb
state (third-person singular simple present states, present participle stating, simple past and past participle stated)
- To declare to be a fact.
- He stated that he was willing to help.
- Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St....1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
- To make known.
- State your intentions.
Adjective
state (comparative more state, superlative most state)
- Stately.
- The ſhepheardes ſwayne you cannot well ken, / But it be by his pride, from other men: / They looken bigge as Bulles, that bene bate, / And bearen the cragge ſo ſtiffe and ſo ſtate, / As Cocke on his dunghill, crowing cranck.1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “September. Ægloga Nona.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC, folio 36, recto
Noun (2) capitalized: State
State (plural States)
- A political entity that regulates society and the population within a definite territory.
- The current governing political entity in which the speaker lives.
Proper noun capitalized: State
State
- State University, as the shortened form of a public university name.
- State begins fouling and UCLA misses a couple of front-end free throws on one-and-ones.2009, Brandon Lang, Stanley Cohen, Beating the Odds: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Sports Handicapper, →ISBN
- The Pack’s average seed in the mountain of NCAA tourney predictions out there is 10, and even the most optimistic takes on State’s situation have the team as an eight-seed.2019 February 25, Steven Muma, “NCAA tournament position stays tenuous as NC State does the bare minimum”, in Backing the Pack
state meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
state in Hindi
- a condition
- अवस्था avasthā, दशा daśā, स्थिति sthiti
- a/the State, the sovereign country or city state with a central government acting as its head and operator; national issues and affairs as opposed to local ones.
- राज्य rājya, राष्ट्र rāṣṭra
- a political division of a federation retaining a degree of autonomy
- प्रदेश pradeś, राज्य rājya
- make known — see also declare, indicate, enunciate
- उल्लेख ullekh
state in Tamil
- a/the State, the sovereign country or city state with a central government acting as its head and operator; national issues and affairs as opposed to local ones.
- அரசு aracu
- a political division of a federation retaining a degree of autonomy
- மாநிலம் mānilam
state in Marathi
- state, province
- राज्य rājya
- state, condition
- हाल hāl, अवस्था avasthā, दशा daśā
state in Urdu
- a condition
- حالَت hālat, حال hāl
- a/the State, the sovereign country or city state with a central government acting as its head and operator; national issues and affairs as opposed to local ones.
- رِیاسَت riyāsat, دَولَت daulat
- a political division of a federation retaining a degree of autonomy
- صُوبَہ sūba, رِیاسَت riyāsat, پْرَدیش pradeś, اِسْٹیٹ isṭeṭ, سْٹیٹ sṭeṭ, راجْیَہ rājya
More languagesFewer languages
- state in Bengali
- হাল hal, অবস্থা obostha, রাষ্ট্র raśṭro, রাজ্য rajjo
- state in Telugu
- స్థితి sthiti
- state in Malayalam
- രാഷ്ട്രം rāṣṭraṁ, സംസ്ഥാനം saṁsthānaṁ
- state in Kannada
- ದೇಶ dēśa
- state in Punjabi
- ਹਾਲ hāl, ਤਬੀਅਤ tabīata, ਨੌਬਤ naubat, حال ḥāl
- state in Gujarati
- રાજ્ય rājya, હાલ hāl
- state in Sanskrit
- अवस्था avasthā, राष्ट्र rāṣṭra
- state in Sinhala
- රාජ්යය rājyaya
- state in Assamese
- ৰাজ্য raizzo, প্ৰদেশ prodex
- state in Pashto
- حالت hālat, مملکت mamlakat, دولت dawlat, کشور kišwár
- state in Tagalog
- himtang, banwa, estado, ipahayag
- state in Arabic
- حَالَة ḥāla, حَال ḥāl, وَضْع waḍʕ, دَوْلَة dawla
- state in Malay
- keadaan, negara, negeri
- state in Indonesian
- keadaan, negara, negara bagian
- state in Persian
- حَالَت hālat, حَال hāl, حالَت hâlat, حال hâl
- state in Thai
- สภาพ sà-pâap, ภาวะ paa-wá, สภาวะ sà-paa-wá, รัฐ rát
- state in Vietnamese
- tình trạng, trạng thái, chế độ, nhà nước
- state in Myanmar
- အခြေအနေ a.hkrea.ne, နိုင်ငံ nuingngam, ပြည်နယ် pranynai
Examples of state in a sentence
- Relate what Latium was, her ancient Kings : / Declare the paſt, and preſent State of things, / When firſt the Trojan Fleet Auſonia ſought ; / And how the Rivals lov’d, and how they fought.1697, “Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil, volume III, Londo: Jacob Tonson, published 1721, page 713:
- I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company...
- I had got myself into some fucking state before and after the match.1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, “Traditional Sunday Breakfast”, in Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 92:
- An absolute state of a visit: what the Trump and Windsor snapshots tell us [title]2019 June 3, Hannah Jane Parkinson, “An absolute state of a visit: what the Trump and Windsor snapshots tell us”, in The Guardian:
Synonyms of state
- ass in a sling
- bind
- bucket of syrup
- calvary
- cauldron
- cross
- cross to bear
- difficulty
- dilemma
- dire straits
29 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of state
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | states |
| plural | States |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | states |
| present participle | stating |
| past participle | stated |
| past | stated |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more state |
| superlative | most state |
Origin of state
From Middle English stat (as a noun); adopted c. 1200 from both Old French estat and Latin stātus (“manner of standing, attitude, position, carriage, manner, dress, apparel; and other senses”), from stāre (“to stand”). Doublet of estate and status. The sense of "polity" develops in the 14th century. Compare French être, Greek στέω (stéo), Italian stare, Portuguese estar, Romanian sta, and Spanish estar. The verb is first attested around the beginning of the 16th century. Related to English stand. Displaced native Old English hād (“state, condition”).
Capitalization of state.
Words formed from state
- all-state
- annexed state
- anthrostate
- antistate
- area state
- aspirant state
- battleground state
- bedroom state
- bellwether state
- bistate
- bitstate
- Bloch state
- border state
- chain-melted state
- change of state
- chief of state
- circular state
- civilization-state
- collaborationist state
- construct state
- costate
- deep state
- Dervish state
- determinate state
- downstate
- echo state network
- Efimov state
- eigenstate
- emphatic state
- enemy of the state
- ephemeral state
- Esdaile state
- ethno-state
- ethnostate
- fifty-first state
- fifty-state strategy
- finite-state automaton
- finite-state machine
- finite state machine
- flag state
- flow state
- Fock state
- fugue state
- geostate
- Gibbs state
- governed state
- great office of state
- Hartle-Hawking state
- head of state
- home state
- Hospitality State
- identical by state
- immunostate
- in a real state
- in a right state
- in a state
- indeterminate state
- instate
- in-state
- in state
Phrases with state
- W state
- MO State
- state it
- Wa State
- Bay State
- Cal State
- cat state
- Del State
- end state
- Gem State
- kin state
- Mon State
170 more phrasesFewer phrases
- red state
- Sac State
- sea state
- state aid
- state law
- 51st state
- Bama State
- Bear State
- Bell state
- blue state
- Chin State
- city state
- Corn State
- free state
- Hemp State
- hole state
- Iowa State
- link state
- Ohio State
- Penn State
- rump state
- save state
- Shan State
- state bond
- state fair
- state laws
- state line
- state park
- wait state
- Aloha State
- Bayou State
- bound state
- First State
- graph state
- green state
- mafia state
- nanny state
- Ocean State
- Papal State
- party state
- Peach State
- rogue state
- Sioux State
- slave state
- solid state
- state bonds
- state fairs
- state house
- state lines
- state parks
- state space
- state store
- state visit
- Sunny State
- swing state
- world state
- Badger State
- Beaver State
- buffer state
- client state
- Copper State
- Cotton State
- Cowboy State
- Coyote State
- Creole State
- Empire State
- failed state
- Flower State
- Garden State
- Golden State
- Gopher State
- ground state
- Hawaii State
- Jewish state
- Kachin State
- Kansas State
- Kievan state
- Kyivan state
- lay in state
- lie in state
- Lumber State
- member state
- Mexico State
- nation state
- Nutmeg State
- Oregon State
- outlaw state
- Part A state
- Part B state
- Part C state
- police state
- prison state
- puppet state
- purple state
- Rivers State
- salute state
- Silver State
- Slovak State
- Sooner State
- state church
- state flower
- state houses
- state of war
- state police
- state school
- state secret
- state spaces
- state stores
- state visits
- steady state
- Sucker State
- vassal state
- yellow state
- zombie state
- Alabama State
- Arizona State
- Beehive State
- Buckeye State
- Chinook State
- cluster state
- Cracker State
- Diamond State
- excited state
- federal state
- Florida State
- flyover state
- Garbage State
- general state
- Georgia State
- Granite State
- Hawkeye State
- Hoosier State
- Indiana State
- Islamic State
- lain in state
- lies in state
- minimal state
- Natural State
- network state
- nominal state
- Pelican State
- Prairie State
- quantum state
- Rakhine State
- rentier state
- Rydberg state
- ship of state
- Show Me State
- Show-Me State
- state capture
- State College
- state diagram
- state flowers
- state funeral
- state machine
- state of flux
- state of mind
- state of play
- state pattern
- state polices
- state schools
- state secrets
- state trooper
- Tobacco State
- Trucial State
- unbound state
- unitary state
- warfare state
- welfare state
- Zionist state
Words that rhyme with state
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- late
- bate
- create
- date
- relate
- vibrate
- wait
- deflate
- fate
- migrate
- rebate
- rotate
- strait
- supererogate
- translocate
- await
- eight
- freight
- skate
- alternate
- collate
- debate
- inflate
- sedate
- update
- compensate
- delate
- dilate
- fixate
- grate
- Haight
- hate
- implicate
- innate
- intercalate
- locate
- mandate
- negate
- overweight
- pinnate
- quadrate
- tate
- vacate
- aerate
- calibrate
- castrate
- conflate
- crate
Questions about state
- What does state mean?
- State means a condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
- What is state in Hindi?
- State in Hindi is अवस्था (avasthā), दशा (daśā), स्थिति (sthiti). See State meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use state in a sentence?
- Relate what Latium was, her ancient Kings : / Declare the paſt, and preſent State of things, / When firſt the Trojan Fleet Auſonia ſought ; / And how the Rivals lov’d, and how they fought.
- What part of speech is state?
- State can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce state?
- State is pronounced /steɪt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of state?
- The plural of state is states.
Words near state in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: state (page history and authors); State (page history and authors); अवस्था (Marathi) (page history and authors); آکھنا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); રાજ્ય (Gujarati) (page history and authors); প্ৰদেশ (Assamese) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-state.ogg, En-us-state.ogg.
Cite this entry: “state.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/state. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.