state

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
state
    n 1: the territory occupied by one of the constituent
         administrative districts of a nation; "his state is in the
         deep south" [syn: {state}, {province}]
    2: the way something is with respect to its main attributes;
       "the current state of knowledge"; "his state of health"; "in
       a weak financial state"
    3: the group of people comprising the government of a sovereign
       state; "the state has lowered its income tax"
    4: a politically organized body of people under a single
       government; "the state has elected a new president"; "African
       nations"; "students who had come to the nation's capitol";
       "the country's largest manufacturer"; "an industrialized
       land" [syn: {state}, {nation}, {country}, {land},
       {commonwealth}, {res publica}, {body politic}]
    5: (chemistry) the three traditional states of matter are solids
       (fixed shape and volume) and liquids (fixed volume and shaped
       by the container) and gases (filling the container); "the
       solid state of water is called ice" [syn: {state of matter},
       {state}]
    6: a state of depression or agitation; "he was in such a state
       you just couldn't reason with him"
    7: the territory occupied by a nation; "he returned to the land
       of his birth"; "he visited several European countries" [syn:
       {country}, {state}, {land}]
    8: the federal department in the United States that sets and
       maintains foreign policies; "the Department of State was
       created in 1789" [syn: {Department of State}, {United States
       Department of State}, {State Department}, {State}, {DoS}]
    v 1: express in words; "He said that he wanted to marry her";
         "tell me what is bothering you"; "state your opinion";
         "state your name" [syn: {state}, {say}, {tell}]
    2: put before; "I submit to you that the accused is guilty"
       [syn: {submit}, {state}, {put forward}, {posit}]
    3: indicate through a symbol, formula, etc.; "Can you express
       this distance in kilometers?" [syn: {express}, {state}]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
State \State\ (st[=a]t), n. [OE. stat, OF. estat, F. ['e]tat,
   fr. L. status a standing, position, fr. stare, statum, to
   stand. See {Stand}, and cf. {Estate}, {Status}.]
   1. The circumstances or condition of a being or thing at any
      given time.
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            State is a term nearly synonymous with "mode," but
            of a meaning more extensive, and is not exclusively
            limited to the mutable and contingent. --Sir W.
                                                  Hamilton.
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            Declare the past and present state of things.
                                                  --Dryden.
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            Keep the state of the question in your eye. --Boyle.
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   2. Rank; condition; quality; as, the state of honor.
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            Thy honor, state, and seat is due to me. --Shak.
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   3. Condition of prosperity or grandeur; wealthy or prosperous
      circumstances; social importance.
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            She instructed him how he should keep state, and yet
            with a modest sense of his misfortunes. --Bacon.
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            Can this imperious lord forget to reign,
            Quit all his state, descend, and serve again?
                                                  --Pope.
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   4. Appearance of grandeur or dignity; pomp.
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            Where least of state there most of love is shown.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   5. A chair with a canopy above it, often standing on a dais;
      a seat of dignity; also, the canopy itself. [Obs.]
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            His high throne, . . . under state
            Of richest texture spread.            --Milton.
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            When he went to court, he used to kick away the
            state, and sit down by his prince cheek by jowl.
                                                  --Swift.
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   6. Estate; possession. [Obs.] --Daniel.
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            Your state, my lord, again is yours.  --Massinger.
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   7. A person of high rank. [Obs.] --Latimer.
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   8. Any body of men united by profession, or constituting a
      community of a particular character; as, the civil and
      ecclesiastical states, or the lords spiritual and temporal
      and the commons, in Great Britain. Cf. {Estate}, n., 6.
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   9. The principal persons in a government.
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            The bold design
            Pleased highly those infernal states. --Milton.
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   10. The bodies that constitute the legislature of a country;
       as, the States-general of Holland.
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   11. A form of government which is not monarchial, as a
       republic. [Obs.]
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             Well monarchies may own religion's name,
             But states are atheists in their very fame.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   12. A political body, or body politic; the whole body of
       people who are united under one government, whatever may
       be the form of the government; a nation.
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             Municipal law is a rule of conduct prescribed by
             the supreme power in a state.        --Blackstone.
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             The Puritans in the reign of Mary, driven from
             their homes, sought an asylum in Geneva, where they
             found a state without a king, and a church without
             a bishop.                            --R. Choate.
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   13. In the United States, one of the commonwealths, or bodies
       politic, the people of which make up the body of the
       nation, and which, under the national constitution, stand
       in certain specified relations with the national
       government, and are invested, as commonwealths, with full
       power in their several spheres over all matters not
       expressly inhibited.
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   Note: The term State, in its technical sense, is used in
         distinction from the federal system, i. e., the
         government of the United States.
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   14. Highest and stationary condition, as that of maturity
       between growth and decline, or as that of crisis between
       the increase and the abating of a disease; height; acme.
       [Obs.]
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   Note: When state is joined with another word, or used
         adjectively, it denotes public, or what belongs to the
         community or body politic, or to the government; also,
         what belongs to the States severally in the American
         Union; as, state affairs; state policy; State laws of
         Iowa.
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   {Nascent state}. (Chem.) See under {Nascent}.

   {Secretary of state}. See {Secretary}, n., 3.

   {State barge}a royal barge, or a barge belonging to a
      government.

   {State bed}, an elaborately carved or decorated bed.

   {State carriage}, a highly decorated carriage for officials
      going in state, or taking part in public processions.

   {State paper}, an official paper relating to the interests or
      government of a state. --Jay.

   {State prison}, a public prison or penitentiary; -- called
      also {State's prison}.

   {State prisoner}, one in confinement, or under arrest, for a
      political offense.

   {State rights}, or {States' rights}, the rights of the
      several independent States, as distinguished from the
      rights of the Federal government. It has been a question
      as to what rights have been vested in the general
      government. [U.S.]

   {State's evidence}. See {Probator}, 2, and under {Evidence}.
      

   {State sword}, a sword used on state occasions, being borne
      before a sovereign by an attendant of high rank.

   {State trial}, a trial of a person for a political offense.
      

   {States of the Church}. See under {Ecclesiastical}.
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   Syn: {State}, {Situation}, {Condition}.

   Usage: State is the generic term, and denotes in general the
          mode in which a thing stands or exists. The situation
          of a thing is its state in reference to external
          objects and influences; its condition is its internal
          state, or what it is in itself considered. Our
          situation is good or bad as outward things bear
          favorably or unfavorably upon us; our condition is
          good or bad according to the state we are actually in
          as respects our persons, families, property, and other
          things which comprise our sources of enjoyment.
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                I do not, brother,
                Infer as if I thought my sister's state
                Secure without all doubt or controversy.
                                                  --Milton.
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                We hoped to enjoy with ease what, in our
                situation, might be called the luxuries of life.
                                                  --Cook.
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                And, O, what man's condition can be worse
                Than his whom plenty starves and blessings
                curse?                            --Cowley.
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from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
State \State\, n.
   A statement; also, a document containing a statement. [R.]
   --Sir W. Scott.
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from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
State \State\ (st[=a]t), a.
   1. Stately. [Obs.] --Spenser.
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   2. Belonging to the state, or body politic; public.
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from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
State \State\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stated}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Stating}.]
   1. To set; to settle; to establish. [R.]
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            I myself, though meanest stated,
            And in court now almost hated.        --Wither.
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            Who calls the council, states the certain day.
                                                  --Pope.
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   2. To express the particulars of; to set down in detail or in
      gross; to represent fully in words; to narrate; to recite;
      as, to state the facts of a case, one's opinion, etc.
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   {To state it}. To assume state or dignity. [Obs.] "Rarely
      dressed up, and taught to state it." --Beau. & Fl.
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from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Argillaceous \Ar`gil*la"ceous\, a. [L. argillaceus, fr.
   argilla.]
   Of the nature of clay; consisting of, or containing, argil or
   clay; clayey.
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   {Argillaceous sandstone} (Geol.), a sandstone containing much
      clay.

   {Argillaceous iron ore}, the clay ironstone.

   {Argillaceous schist} or {state}. See {Argillite}.
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from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
state
 n.

   1. Condition, situation. "What's the state of your latest hack?" "It's
   winning away." "The system tried to read and write the disk
   simultaneously and got into a totally {wedged} state." The standard
   question "What's your state?" means "What are you doing?" or "What are
   you about to do?" Typical answers are "about to gronk out", or
   "hungry". Another standard question is "What's the state of the
   world?", meaning "What's new?" or "What's going on?". The more terse
   and humorous way of asking these questions would be "State-p?".
   Another way of phrasing the first question under sense 1 would be
   "state-p latest hack?".

   2. Information being maintained in non-permanent memory (electronic or
   human).
    
from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
state

   <storage, architecture, jargon, theory> How something is; its
   configuration, attributes, condition, or information content.
   The state of a system is usually temporary (i.e. it changes
   with time) and volatile (i.e. it will be lost or reset to some
   initial state if the system is switched off).

   A state may be considered to be a point in some {space} of all
   possible states.  A simple example is a light, which is either
   on or off.  A complex example is the electrical activation in
   a human brain while solving a problem.

   In computing and related fields, states, as in the light
   example, are often modelled as being {discrete} (rather than
   continuous) and the transition from one state to another is
   considered to be instantaneous.  Another (related) property of
   a system is the number of possible states it may exhibit.
   This may be finite or infinite.  A common model for a system
   with a finite number of discrete state is a {finite state
   machine}.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1996-10-13)
    
from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
STATE, condition of persons. This word has various acceptations. If we 
inquire into its origin, it will be found to come from the Latin status, 
which is derived from the verb stare, sto, whence has been made statio, 
which signifies the place where a person is located, stat, to fulfill the 
obligations which are imposed upon him. 
     2. State is that quality which belongs to a person in society, and 
which secures to, and imposes upon him different rights and duties in 
consequence of the difference of that quality. 
     3. Although all men come from the hands of nature upon an equality, yet 
there are among them marked differences. It is from nature that come the 
distinctions of the sexes, fathers and children, of age and youth, &c. 
     4. The civil or municipal laws of each people, have added to these 
natural qualities, distinctions which are purely civil and arbitrary, 
founded on the manners of the people, or in the will of the legislature. 
Such are the differences, which these laws have established between citizens 
and aliens, between magistrates and subjects, and between freemen and 
slaves; and those which exist in some countries between nobles and 
plebeians, which differences are either unknown or contrary to natural law. 
     5. Although these latter distinctions are more particularly subject to 
the civil or municipal law, because to it they owe their origin, it 
nevertheless extends its authority over the natural qualities, not to 
destroy or to weaken them, but to confirm them and to render them more 
inviolable by positive rules and by certain maxims. This union of the civil 
or municipal and natural law, form among men a third species of differences 
which may be called mixed, because they participate of both, and derive 
their principles from nature and the perfection of the law; for example, 
infancy or the privileges which belong to it, have their foundation in 
natural law; but the age and the term of these prerogatives are determined 
by the civil or municipal law. 
     6. Three sorts of different qualities which form the state or condition 
of men may then be distinguished: those which are purely natural, those 
purely civil, and those which are composed of the natural and civil or 
municipal law. Vide 3 Bl. Com. 396; 1 Toull. n. 170, 171; Civil State. 
    
from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
STATE, government. This word is used in various senses. In its most enlarged 
sense, it signifies a self-sufficient body of persons united together in one 
community for the defence of their rights, and to do right and justice to 
foreigners. In this sense, the state means the whole people united into one 
body politic; (q.v.) and the state, and the people of the state, are 
equivalent expressions. 1 Pet. Cond. Rep. 37 to 39; 3 Dall. 93; 2 Dall. 425; 
2 Wilson's Lect. 120; Dane's Appx. Sec. 50, p. 63 1 Story, Const. Sec. 361. 
In a more limited sense, the word `state' expresses merely the positive or 
actual organization of the legislative, or judicial powers; thus the actual 
government of the state is designated by the name of the state; hence the 
expression, the state has passed such a law, or prohibited such an act. 
State also means the section of territory occupied by a state, as the state 
of Pennsylvania. 
     2. By the word state is also meant, more particularly, one of the 
commonwealths which form the United States of America. The constitution of 
the United States makes the following provisions in relation to the states. 
     3. Art. 1, s. 9, Sec. 5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles 
exported from any state. No preference shall be given by any regulation of 
commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of another, nor 
shall vessels bound to or from one state be obliged to enter, clear, or pay 
duties in another. 
     4.-Sec. 6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence 
of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the 
receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time 
to time. 
     5.-Sec. 7. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States, 
and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, 
without the consent of congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, 
or title of any kind whatever, from, any king, prince, or foreign state. 
     6.-Art. 1, s. 10, Sec. 1. No state shall enter into any treaty, 
alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin 
money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender 
in payments of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex-post-facto, or law 
impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of nobility. 
     7.-Sec. 2. No state shall, without the consent of congress, lay any 
imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely 
necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all 
duties and imposts laid by any state on imports or exports shall be for the 
use of the treasury of the United States, and all such laws shall be subject 
to the revision and control of congress. No state, shall, without the 
consent of congress, lay any duty on tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in 
time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or 
with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such 
imminent danger as will not admit of delay. 
     8. The district of Columbia and the territorial districts of the United 
States, are not states within the meaning of the constitution and of the 
judiciary act, so as to enable a citizen thereof to sue a citizen of one of 
the states in the federal courts. 2 Cranch, 445; 1 Wheat. 91. 
     9. The several states composing the United States are sovereign and 
independent, in all things not surrendered to the national government by the 
constitution, and are considered, on general principles, by each other as 
foreign states, yet their mutual relations are rather those of domestic 
independence, than of foreign alienation. 7 Cranch, 481; 3 Wheat. 324; 1 
Greenl. Ev. Sec. 489, 504. Vide, generally, Mr. Madison's report in the 
legislature of Virginia, January, 1800; 1 Story's Com. on Const. Sec. 208; 1 
Kent, Com. 189, note b; Grotius, B. 1, c. 1, s. 14; Id. B. 3, c. 3, s. 2; 
Burlamaqui, vol. 2, pt. 1, c. 4, s. 9; Vattel, B. 1, c. 1; 1 Toull. n. 202, 
note 1 Nation; Cicer. de Repub. 1. 1, s. 25. 
    
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
311 Moby Thesaurus words for "state":
      Babylonian splendor, Everyman, John Doe, Kreis, Public, affirm,
      air, allege, ally, announce, annunciate, archbishopric,
      archdiocese, archduchy, archdukedom, argue, arrondissement,
      articulate, assert, assever, asseverate, assign, attitude, aver,
      avouch, avow, bailiwick, bishopric, body politic, borough,
      brilliance, bring out, buffer state, canton, capacity,
      captive nation, ceremonial, character, chieftaincy, chieftainry,
      chime in, circumstance, circumstances, citizenry, city, city-state,
      civic, civil, claim, colony, come out with, common, common man,
      commonweal, commonwealth, communal, commune, community,
      community at large, conceive, condition, conditions, confess,
      confirm, congressional district, constablewick, constitution,
      contend, cosmopolitan, couch, couch in terms, count, country,
      county, declare, declare roundly, delineate, deliver, denominate,
      departement, describe, designate, determine, dignified, diocese,
      district, domain, dominion, duchy, dukedom, earldom, elaborateness,
      electoral district, electorate, elegance, elucidate,
      embody in words, empery, empire, enunciate, estate, everybody,
      everyman, everyone, everywoman, explain, expound, express,
      express the belief, federal, fix, folk, folks, footing, form,
      formal, formality, formularize, formulate, frame, free city,
      general, general public, gentry, give, give expression to,
      give notice, give words to, glory, gorgeousness, government,
      governmental, grand duchy, grandeur, grandiosity, grandness,
      hamlet, have, heraldry, hold, hundred, imperial, imposingness,
      impressiveness, indicate, insist, international, interpret,
      issue a manifesto, issue a statement, kingdom, land, lavishness,
      lay down, luxuriousness, luxury, magistracy, magnificence,
      maintain, majestic, majesty, make a statement,
      make an announcement, mandant, mandate, mandated territory,
      mandatee, mandatory, manifesto, mark, men, mention, metropolis,
      metropolitan area, mode, name, narrate, nation, national,
      nationality, nobility, nuncupate, oblast, official, okrug,
      paragraph, parish, people, people in general, persons, phase,
      phrase, pick out, pin down, plushness, point out, polis, polity,
      pomp, populace, population, poshness, position, possession,
      posture, power, precinct, predicate, present, pride, principality,
      principate, proclaim, profess, pronounce, protectorate, protest,
      proudness, province, public, publish a manifesto,
      puppet government, puppet regime, put, put in words, put it, quote,
      realm, recite, regal, region, rehearse, relate, report, republic,
      resplendence, rhetorize, riding, ritziness, royal, satellite, say,
      select, seneschalty, set, set down, set forth, set out, settlement,
      shape, sheriffalty, sheriffwick, shire, shrievalty, signify,
      situation, social, societal, society, soke, solemn, solemnity,
      sovereign nation, speak, speak out, speak up, specialize, specify,
      splendidness, splendiferousness, splendor, stage, stake, stand,
      stand for, stand on, state of affairs, state of being, stateliness,
      stately, stature, status, stipulate, structure, style, submit,
      sultanate, sumptuousness, superpower, supranational, swear, tell,
      territory, testify, throw out, toparchia, toparchy, town, township,
      utter, vent, ventilate, village, voice, vow, wapentake, ward,
      warrant, word, world, you and me

    

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