state
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /steɪt/
rhymes: -eɪt
Forms: form: states
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-
Proto-Italic *status
Latin statuslbor.
Old French estatbor.
Middle English stat
English 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.
Senses: examples: text: a state of being
text: a state of emergency
text: 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.
ref: 1697, “Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil, volume III, Londo: Jacob Tonson, published 1721, page 713:
text: 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.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
glosses: A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 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:
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
A complete description of a system, consisting of parameters that determine all properties of the system.
examples: text: absolute state
text: in a state
text: in a bit of a state
text: Who the fuck undressed me? Try tracing back. It's now Sunday. Yesterday was Saturday. The semi-final at Hampden. I had got myself into some fucking state before and after the match.
ref: 1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, “Traditional Sunday Breakfast”, in Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 92:
text: An absolute state of a visit: what the Trump and Windsor snapshots tell us [title]
ref: 2019 June 3, Hannah Jane Parkinson, “An absolute state of a visit: what the Trump and Windsor snapshots tell us”, in The Guardian:
glosses: A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
A mess; disorder; a bad condition or set of circumstances.
synonyms: word: ass in a sling
word: bind
word: bucket of syrup
word: calvary
word: cross
word: cross to bear
word: difficulty
word: dilemma
word: dire straits
word: doghouse
word: fix
word: hole
word: jam
word: kettle of fish
word: ordeal
word: pickle
word: pinch
word: plight
word: predicament
word: quandary
word: quagmire
word: situation
word: spot
word: spot of bother
word: sticky situation
word: sticky wicket
word: tight spot
word: trouble
examples: text: In the fetch state, the address of the next instruction is placed on the address bus.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
The stable condition of a processor during a particular clock cycle.
examples: text: The state here includes a set containing all names seen so far.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
The set of all parameters relevant to a computation.
examples: text: A debugger can show the state of a program at any breakpoint.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
The values of all parameters at some point in a computation.
topics: sciences
glosses: A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
The physical property of matter as solid, liquid, gas or plasma.
glosses: A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
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.
examples: text: in state
text: The President's body will lie in state at the Capitol.
glosses: High social standing or circumstance.
Pomp, ceremony, or dignity.
examples: text: And leſned by that ſmall, God I beſeech him, / Thy honor, ſtate, and ſeate, is due to me.
ref: 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 Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
glosses: High social standing or circumstance.
Rank; condition; quality.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1616, Francis Bacon, The History of Henry VII, of England, published 1786, page 139:
text: Can this imperious lord forget to reign, / Quit all his ſtate, deſcend, and ſerve again ?
ref: 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:
glosses: High social standing or circumstance.
Condition of prosperity or grandeur; wealthy or prosperous circumstances; social importance.
examples: text: […]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.
ref: 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 as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 443–447:
text: 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[…]
ref: 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:
glosses: High social standing or circumstance.
A chair with a canopy above it, often standing on a dais; a seat of dignity; also, the canopy itself.
examples: text: We in the name of other Perſean ſtates,
And commons of this mightie Monarchy,
Preſent thee with the Emperiall Diadem.
ref: 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; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i:
text: 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 inwardly in their mindes[…]
ref: 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica, page 1:
glosses: High social standing or circumstance.
A great person, a dignitary; a lord or prince.
examples: text: 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, on vs, that elſe had ſwallowed them.
ref: 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, stanza 20, page 142:
text: Your ’State, my Lord, again is yours.
ref: 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:
glosses: High social standing or circumstance.
Estate, possession.
examples: text: Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.
ref: a. 1949, Albert Einstein, as quoted by Virgil Henshaw in Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist (1949)
glosses: A polity or community.
Any sovereign polity or community; the government of a country or city-state.
qualifier: historically often capitalized
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1789, United States Bill of Rights:
text: You do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that you will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Connecticut, so long as you continue a citizen thereof; and that you will faithfully discharge, according to law, the duties of the office of […] to the best of your abilities.
ref: 1839, John Beach, Thomas Clap Perkins, The public statute laws of the state of Connecticut, page 35:
text: As Australia considers whether to allow states greater latitude in the indirect tax field, it must ask what it will do when (not if) it finally decides that the federal government should enact a modern general sales tax.
ref: 1993, Charles E. McLure, Vertical fiscal imbalance and the assignment of taxing powers in Australia, →ISBN:
text: The Central Lowlands is often referred to as the heart of America — and with good reason: If we look at the names of the eight states with populations of 10 million or more, this region has three of them, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan, more than any one of the other five.
ref: 2001, Angus Macleod Gunn, The Impact of Geology on the United States, page 0313314446:
glosses: A polity or community.
A political division of a federation retaining a notable degree of autonomy, as in the United States, Mexico, Nigeria, or India.
examples: text: Well monarchies may own religion’s name, / But ſtates are atheiſts in their very frame.
ref: 1662, John Dryden, “Satire on the Dutch”, in The Works of the English Poets, volume XIII, London: R. Hett, published 1779, page 41:
glosses: A polity or community.
A form of government other than a monarchy.
topics: anthropology
human-sciences
sciences
glosses: A polity or community.
A society larger than a tribe. A society large enough to form a state in the sense of a government.
topics: mathematics
sciences
qualifier: stochastic processes
glosses: An element of the range of the random variables that define a random process.
examples: text: […]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.
ref: 1997, Robert van Valin, Randy LaPolla, Syntax, page 92:
text: The most basic Aktionsart distinction is between states and occurrences.
ref: 2010, Nick Riemer, Introducing Semantics, page 320:
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
semantics
antonyms: occurrence
glosses: The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that do not change over time.
Synonyms: word: condition
word: position
word: scenario
word: set up
word: shape
word: situation
word: state
word: state of affairs
word: status
Hyponyms: word: absolute state
word: Bayou State
word: Bear State
word: Bell state
word: Big Bend State
word: Blackwater State
word: Blue Hen State
word: blue state
word: bound state
word: buffer state
word: cat state
word: Chinook State
word: city state
word: client state
word: cluster state
word: continental state
word: convention state
word: Cracker State
word: Creole State
word: deep state
word: Ecclesiastical State
word: end state
word: excited state
word: failed state
word: federal state
word: feudatory state
word: Flower State
word: flyover state
word: free state
word: fugue state
word: garrison state
word: Gem State
word: graph state
word: green state
word: ground state
word: Hawaii State
word: hole state
word: iron state
word: island state
word: landlocked state
word: link state
word: Lumber State
word: member state
word: nanny state
word: narco state
word: night watchman state
word: normative state
word: Papal States
word: party state
word: police state
word: prerogative state
word: princely state
word: pseudostate
word: puppet state
word: purple state
word: quantum state
word: red state
word: rogue state
word: rump state
word: save state
word: sea state
word: solid state
word: sovereign state
word: State of Hawaii
word: steady state
word: swing state
word: transition state
word: unitary state
word: upstate
word: vassal state
word: wait state
word: welfare state
word: difficult situation
word: exigence
word: exigency
Meronyms: word: circumstance
Derived terms: all-state
annexed state
area state
aspirant state
battleground state
bedroom state
bellwether state
border state
chain-melted state
change of state
chief of state
circular state
civilization-state
collaborationist state
construct state
deep state
Dervish state
determinate state
echo state network
Efimov state
emphatic state
enemy of the state
ephemeral state
Esdaile state
ethno-state
fifty-first state
fifty-state strategy
finite-state automaton
finite state machine
finite-state machine
flag state
Fock state
fugue state
Gibbs state
governed state
great office of state
Hartle-Hawking state
head of state
home state
Hospitality State
identical by state
in a real state
in a right state
in a state
indeterminate state
in-state
in state
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Kachin State
Kievan state
kin state
Kyivan state
liquid state machine
mafia state
minimal state
minister of state
Mon State
narco-state
nation-state
nation state
network state
New York state
night-watchman state
nominal state
non-state
non state actor
non-state actor
organ of state
out-of-state
oxidation state
persistent vegetative state
persistive vegetative state
physical state
prison state
pronominal state
pro-state
pseudostate
pseudo-state
quantum state tomography
Rakhine State
rentier state
representational state transfer
re-state
Rydberg state
salute state
satellite state
secretary of state
semi-state
Shan State
ship of state
slave state
Slovak State
software state
solid-state
solid-state device
solid-state drive
something is rotten in the state of Denmark
state aid
state and ancientry
state-assisted
state capital
state capitalism
state-capitalist
state capitalist
state capture
state church
state diagram
state electrician
state enterprise
state examination
state fair
state flower
state funeral
statehood
state house
state it
statelet
state-level city
state-level municipality
state line
state liquor agency
state machine
state of affairs
state of aggregation
state of alarm
state of being
state of beingness
state of emergency
state of exception
state of flux
state of grace
state of matter
State of Mexico
state of mind
state of motion
state of nature
state of play
state of siege
state-of-the-art
state of the art
state of war
state-owned
state-owned enterprise
state owned enterprise
state ownership
state park
state pattern
state police
state police officer
state religion
state-run
States Assembly
state school
state secret
States General
stateside
statesman
statesmanship
state socialism
state socialist
state space
States Provincial
state store
state trooper
State Union of Serbia and Montenegro
state variable
state visit
state within a state
steady-state
steady state theory
sword of state
there is something rotten in the state of Denmark
thermodynamic state
tipping-point state
tributary state
T-state
two-state solution
unbound state
upstate
van der Waals equation of state
Washington state
withering away of the state
world state
W state
yellow state
zombie state