fifty-first state

noun

A country or region regarded as under the control of the United States.

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Meanings

nounfifty-first state (plural fifty-first states)

plural fifty-first states · alternative 51st state

  1. derogatoryA country or region regarded as under the control of the United States.

    “What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that’ll make it easier to annex us,” Mr. Trudeau said during a news conference on Tuesday. “That’s never going to happen. We will never be the 51st state.”

    2025 March 4, Alan Rappeport, Ana Swanson, quoting Justin Trudeau, “Trump’s Latest Tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China Could Be His Biggest Gamble”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Origin

As though an addition to the existing fifty states of the USA.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

French 51ᵉ État
  • 51ᵉ ÉtatTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

fifty-first state. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fifty-first%20state

MLA

“fifty-first state.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fifty-first%20state. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fifty-first state,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fifty-first%20state.

Source: fifty-first state on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.