nation state

A form of nation-state — A political entity (a state) associated with a common national identity (historically, culturally, or ethnically; as with a nation) and a sovereign territorial unit.

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Meanings

nounnation state (plural nation states)

plural nation states

  1. alternativeAlternative spelling of nation-state.

    But times have changed, and mother / Standing at the garden gate / Calls us home for dinner / With the nation state

    2018, Momus, “Rootless Cosmopolitans”, in Pantaloon
    1 more example

    It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]:[…]; […] or perhaps to muse on the irrelevance of the borders that separate nation states and keep people from understanding their shared environment.

    2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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