Etymology From Middle English stat (as a noun); adopted c. 1200 from both Old French estat and Latin stātus (“manner of standing, attitude, position, carriage, manner, dress, apparel; and other senses”), from stāre (“to stand”). Doublet of estate and status. The sense of "polity" develops in the 14th century. Compare French être, Greek στέω (stéo), Italian stare, Portuguese estar, Romanian sta, and Spanish estar. The verb is first attested around the beginning of the 16th century. Related to English stand.
A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
a state of being
a state of emergency
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Relate what Latium was, her ancient Kings : / Declare the paſt, and preſent State of things, / When firſt the Trojan Fleet Auſonia ſought ; / And how the Rivals lov’d, and how they fought.1697, “Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil, volume III, Londo: Jacob Tonson, published 1721, page 713:
I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
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Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics A complete description of a system, consisting of parameters that determine all properties of the system.
States in which the energy has definite values are called stationary states of a system; they are described by wave functions Ψₙ which are the eigenfunctions of the Hamiltonian operator, i.e. which satisfy the equation ĤΨₙ = EₙΨₙ, where Eₙ are the eigenvalues of the energy.1977, J. B. Sykes; John Stewart Bell, translating Lev Landau; Evgeny Lifshitz, Course of Theoretical Physics Vol. 3: Quantum Mechanics: Non-relativistic Theory, page 28:
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Colloquial A mess; disorder; a bad condition or set of circumstances.
absolute state
in a state
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in a bit of a state
Who the fuck undressed me? Try tracing back. It's now Sunday. Yesterday was Saturday. The semi-final at Hampden. I had got myself into some fucking state before and after the match.1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, “Traditional Sunday Breakfast”, in Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 92:
An absolute state of a visit: what the Trump and Windsor snapshots tell us [title]2019 June 3, Hannah Jane Parkinson, “An absolute state of a visit: what the Trump and Windsor snapshots tell us”, in The Guardian:
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Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences The stable condition of a processor during a particular clock cycle.
In the fetch state, the address of the next instruction is placed on the address bus.
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Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences The set of all parameters relevant to a computation.
The state here includes a set containing all names seen so far.
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Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences The values of all parameters at some point in a computation.
A debugger can show the state of a program at any breakpoint.
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Sciences The physical property of matter as solid, liquid, gas or plasma.
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Obsolete 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.
› High social standing or circumstance.
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Pomp, ceremony, or dignity.
in state
The President's body will lie in state at the Capitol.
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Rank; condition; quality.
And leſned by that ſmall, God I beſeech him, / Thy honor, ſtate, and ſeate, is due to me.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
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Condition of prosperity or grandeur; wealthy or prosperous circumstances; social importance.
Firſt, in princely behaviour and geſture, teaching him how he ſhould keep of a kind of ſtate, and yet, with a modeſt ſenſe of his misfortunes.1616, Francis Bacon, The History of Henry VII, of England, published 1786, page 139:
Can this imperious lord forget to reign, / Quit all his ſtate, deſcend, and ſerve again ?1703, “The Thebais of Statius”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Works of Alexander Pope, volume II, London: H. Lintont et al., published 1751, book I, page 145:
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A chair with a canopy above it, often standing on a dais; a seat of dignity; also, the canopy itself.
[…]and from the dore / Of that Plutonia Hall, inviſible / Aſcended his high Throne, which under ſtate / Of richeſt texture ſpred, at th’ upper end / Was plac’t in regal luſtre.1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 443–447:
He invented a way of coming into a Room backwards, which he ſaid ſhew’d more Humility, and leſs Affectation ; where other People ſtood, he ſat ; when he went to Court, he us’d to kick away the State, and ſit down by his Prince, Cheek by Choul[…]1712, John Arbuthnot, Jonathan Swift [uncertain], “Jack’s Charms, or the Method by which he gain’d Peg’s Heart”, in John Bull Still In His Senses, London: John Morphew, page 13:
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Obsolete A great person, a dignitary; a lord or prince.
We in the name of other Perſean ſtates, And commons of this mightie Monarchy, Preſent thee with the Emperiall Diadem.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i:
They who to States and Governours of the Commonwealth direct their Speech, High Court of Parlament, or wanting ſuch acceſſe in a private condition, write that which they foreſee may advance the publick good ; I ſuppoſe them as at the beginning of no meane endeavour, not a little alter’d and mov’d inwardly in their mindes[…]1644, John Milton, Areopagitica, page 1:
Their parties great, meanes good, the ſeaſon fit, / Their practice cloſe, their faith ſuſpected not, / Their ſtates far off, and they of wary wit : / Who, with large promiſes, ſo wooe the Scot / To aide their Cauſe, as he conſents to it ; / And glad was to diſturne that furious ſtreame / Of warre, on vs, that elſe had ſwallowed them.1595, Samuel Daniel, “The Civile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke”, in Alexander Balloch Grosart, editor, The Complete Works in Verse and Prose of Samuel Daniel, volume II, book IV, stanza 20, page 142:
Your ’State, my Lord, again is yours.c. 1619, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, “The Fatal Dowry”, in The Works of Philip Massinger, volume II, London: T. Davies, published 1761, [Act V, scene ii], page 271:
› A polity or community.
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A sovereign country or city state with a central government acting as its head and operator; national affairs as opposed to local ones.
Historically often capitalized
Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.a. 1949, Albert Einstein, as quoted by Virgil Henshaw in Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist (1949)
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A political division of a federation retaining a notable degree of autonomy, as in the United States, Mexico, Nigeria, or India.
His alibi is that he was out of state the night of the murder.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.1789, United States Bill of Rights:
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You do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that you will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Connecticut, so long as you continue a citizen thereof; and that you will faithfully discharge, according to law, the duties of the office of […] to the best of your abilities.1839, John Beach, Thomas Clap Perkins, The public statute laws of the state of Connecticut, page 35:
As Australia considers whether to allow states greater latitude in the indirect tax field, it must ask what it will do when (not if) it finally decides that the federal government should enact a modern general sales tax.1993, Charles E. McLure, Vertical fiscal imbalance and the assignment of taxing powers in Australia, →ISBN:
The Central Lowlands is often referred to as the heart of America — and with good reason: If we look at the names of the eight states with populations of 10 million or more, this region has three of them, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan, more than any one of the other five.2001, Angus Macleod Gunn, The Impact of Geology on the United States, page 0313314446:
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Obsolete A form of government other than a monarchy.
Well monarchies may own religion’s name, / But ſtates are atheiſts in their very frame.1662, John Dryden, “Satire on the Dutch”, in The Works of the English Poets, volume XIII, London: R. Hett, published 1779, page 41:
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Anthropology, Human sciences, Sciences A society larger than a tribe. A society large enough to form a state in the sense of a government.
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Mathematics, Sciences An element of the range of the random variables that define a random process.
Stochastic processes
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Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences, Semantics The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that do not change over time.
[…]distinctions among states of affairs are reflected to a striking degree in distinctions among Aktionsart types. That is, situations are expressed by state verbs or predicates, events by achievement verbs or predicates, and actions by activity verbs or predicates.1997, Robert van Valin, Randy LaPolla, Syntax, page 92:
The most basic Aktionsart distinction is between states and occurrences.2010, Nick Riemer, Introducing Semantics, page 320:
Etymology From Middle English stat (as a noun); adopted c. 1200 from both Old French estat and Latin stātus (“manner of standing, attitude, position, carriage, manner, dress, apparel; and other senses”), from stāre (“to stand”). Doublet of estate and status. The sense of "polity" develops in the 14th century. Compare French être, Greek στέω (stéo), Italian stare, Portuguese estar, Romanian sta, and Spanish estar. The verb is first attested around the beginning of the 16th century. Related to English stand.
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To declare to be a fact.
He stated that he was willing to help.
Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
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A provision of law may not be construed as requiring a new grant to be awarded to a specified non-Federal Government entity unless that provision of law (1) specifically refers to this subsection; specifically identifies the particular non-Federal Government entity involved; and (3) specifically states that the award to that entity is required by such provision of law in contravention of the policy set forth in subsection (a).1994, Congress of the United States, United States Statutes at Large, volume 108, part 4:
The species-preserving purposivity of higher organisms is no greater than that of the lowest forms of life, and Jakob von Uexküll was entirely justified in stating that all living organisms are equally well adapted to their environments.1996, Konrad Lorenz, chapter 5, in Robert D. Martin, transl., The Natural Science of the Human Species, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, page 93:
When Tony Greig, in a meaningful and provocative interview, asked Sarfaraz background of betting and match-fixing, the Pakistan "superbat" categorically stated that it should start with Asif Iqbal and Gavaskar who, according to him, were the "original fixers"..2017, K R Wadhwaney, Indian Cricket Controversies:
Etymology From Middle English stat (as a noun); adopted c. 1200 from both Old French estat and Latin stātus (“manner of standing, attitude, position, carriage, manner, dress, apparel; and other senses”), from stāre (“to stand”). Doublet of estate and status. The sense of "polity" develops in the 14th century. Compare French être, Greek στέω (stéo), Italian stare, Portuguese estar, Romanian sta, and Spanish estar. The verb is first attested around the beginning of the 16th century. Related to English stand.
The ſhepheardes ſwayne you cannot well ken, / But it be by his pride, from other men: / They looken bigge as Bulles, that bene bate, / And bearen the cragge ſo ſtiffe and ſo ſtate, / As Cocke on his dunghill, crowing cranck.1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “September. Ægloga Nona.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC, folio 36, recto: