party state

noun

A state in which power is held by a single political party.

OriginChinese 黨國 /党国 →
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Meanings

nounparty state (plural party states)

plural party states · alternative party-state

  1. A state in which power is held by a single political party.

    It was, to put it another way, quite astonishing to see how much, and to what at extent, the party-state depended on lies.

    2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 188
    2 more examples

    The party state encourages companies to band together into industry clusters by giving them preferential access to contracts and stockmarket listings.

    2012 January 21, “Theme and variations”, in The Economist

    I believe this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uyghurs by the Chinese party-state.

    2021 January 19, Michael Pompeo, “Determination of the Secretary of State on Atrocities in Xinjiang”, in US State Department, archived from the original on 11 Apr 2021

Origin

  1. Chinese黨國 /党国
  2. Englishparty state

Possibly calque of Chinese 黨國 /党国 (dǎngguó).

More words from Chinese

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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