Dictionary
state
Pronunciation: (stāt), [key]
—n., adj., v., stat•ed, stat•ing.
—
n.
1. the condition of a person or thing, as with respect to circumstances or attributes:
a state of health.
2. the condition of matter with respect to structure, form, constitution, phase, or the like:
water in a gaseous state.
3. status, rank, or position in life; station:
He dresses in a manner befitting his state.
4. the style of living befitting a person of wealth and high rank:
to travel in state.
5. a particular condition of mind or feeling:
to be in an excited state.
6. an abnormally tense, nervous, or perturbed condition:
He's been in a state since hearing about his brother's death.
7. a politically unified people occupying a definite territory; nation.
8. the territory, or one of the territories, of a government.
9. (sometimes cap.) any of the bodies politic which together make up a federal union, as in the United States of America.
10. the body politic as organized for civil rule and government (distinguished from
church).
11. the operations or activities of a central civil government:
affairs of state.
12. (
cap.) Also called
State Department. Informal.the Department of State.
13. Print.a set of copies of an edition of a publication which differ from others of the same printing because of additions, corrections, or transpositions made during printing or at any time before publication.
14. lie in state, (of a corpse) to be exhibited publicly with honors before burial:
The president's body lay in state for two days.
15. the States, Informal.the United States (usually used outside its borders):
After a year's study in Spain, he returned to the States.
—
adj.
1. of or pertaining to the central civil government or authority.
2. made, maintained, or chartered by or under the authority of one of the commonwealths that make up a federal union:
a state highway; a state bank.
3. characterized by, attended with, or involving ceremony:
a state dinner.
4. used on or reserved for occasions of ceremony.
—
v.t.
1. to declare definitely or specifically:
She stated her position on the case.
2. to set forth formally in speech or writing:
to state a hypothesis.
3. to set forth in proper or definite form:
to state a problem.
4. to say.
5. to fix or settle, as by authority.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
