nonstate

N1O1N1S1T1A1T1E1
UK/ˈnɒnˌsteɪt/

adjective

Not constituting or belonging to a state; not characterised by the institutional power or authority of an organized government.

UncommonScrabble 8

Meanings

adjectivenonstate (not comparable)

alternative non-state

  1. not comparableNot constituting or belonging to a state; not characterised by the institutional power or authority of an organized government.

    More than 70 non-state armed groups were recorded as using the weapons, including 12 that fired rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israel.

    2013 April 12, Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian
    1 more example

    The nonstate peoples we are most familiar with are the hunters and gatherers living in small bands like the ǃKung San of the Kalahari Desert and the Inuit of the Arctic.

    2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 49
nounnonstate (plural nonstates)

plural nonstates · alternative non-state

  1. A sociopolitical entity other than a state.

    States that fail to sufficiently attend to the "imagined" attributes of statehood required by the international system risk being deemed nonstates by the international community...

    2005, Ann Hironaka, Neverending wars

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Germanic*ne
  3. Proto-Indo-European*ís?
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
  5. Proto-Germanic*ainaz
  6. Proto-Germanic*nainaz
  7. Proto-West Germanic*nain
  8. Old Englishnān
  9. Middle Englishnon
  10. Old Englishnān
  11. Old Englishnān-
  12. Middle Englishnon-
  13. Englishnon-
  14. Proto-Indo-European*steh₂-
  15. Proto-Indo-European*stéh₂-tu-s ~ *sth₂-téw-s
  16. Proto-Italic*status
  17. Latinstatu
  18. Old Frenchestat
  19. Middle Englishstat
  20. Englishstate
  21. Englishnonstate

From non- + state.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

nonstate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonstate

MLA

“nonstate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonstate. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nonstate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonstate.

Source: nonstate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.