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Definition of state adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

state

adjective
 
/steɪt/
 
/steɪt/
(also State)
[only before noun]
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    government

  1. provided or controlled by the government of a country
    • state officials/agencies
    • state education
    • families dependent on state benefits (= in Britain, money given by the government to people who are poor)
    • state secrets (= information that could be harmful to a country if it were discovered by an enemy)
    Extra Examples
    • The law applies only to schools within the state system.
    • a country with a state healthcare system
    • Charities are required to register with a state agency.
    • Every citizen could buy shares in privatized state property.
    • He was shot for passing state secrets to foreign powers.
    • Some prefer tax cuts to greater state spending on health and social services.
    • Teachers in the state sector are asking for a 7% pay rise.
    • The state pension is barely enough to live on.
    • The telephone network is still under state control.
    • large-scale state intervention in industry
    • the legitimate exercise of state power
    • schools outside the state system
    • unemployed people living on state benefits
    • A change in state funding will require the museum to pay for the restoration.
    • The film was shown on state television.
    • Chinese state media has condemned the attack.
    Topics Politicsb1
  2. part of country

  3. provided or controlled by a particular state of a country, especially in the US
    • the state government/legislature
    • California state law
    • a state prison/hospital/university
    • state police/troopers
    • a state tax
    • federal and state government policies
  4. official

  5. connected with the leader of a country attending an official ceremony
    • The queen is on a state visit to Berlin.
    • the state opening of Parliament
    • the state apartments (= used for official ceremonies)
    Topics Politicsb2
  6. Word OriginMiddle English (as a noun): partly a shortening of estate, partly from Latin status ‘manner of standing, condition’, from stare ‘to stand’. The current verb senses date from the mid 17th cent.
See state in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee state in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
previously
adverb
 
 
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