The story
Compound of nation + state. Coined c. 1890s under the influence of European languages; compare German Nationalstaat (from 1840s), Italian Stato-nazione (from 1860s).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
nation-state
Today it means: A political entity (a state) associated with a common national identity (historically, culturally, or ethnically; as with a nation) and a sovereign territorial unit. Full definition →