failed state

noun

1. a nation in which the government has lost political authority and control and is unable to fulfill the basic responsibilities of a sovereign state.

failed state

noun

1. a weak state where social and political structures have collapsed to the point where the government has little or no control

Word History and Origins

Origin of failed state¹

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

“America is not going to get deeper involved in the situation with a foreign terrorist organization and a failed state dictating the pace.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The war has killed as many as 150,000 people and left one of Africa’s largest countries in a strategically important region on the verge of becoming a failed state.

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"What we're doing is maintaining US strategic interest in the Western hemisphere," he said, warning that inaction risked a "failed state".

Read more on BBC

“In parts of the Midwest, you mention you’re from California, there’s inevitably haters who want to believe that we left California because it’s a failed state, and they try to commiserate with us about how California is uninhabitable,” the 45-year-old Salgado said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

After the U.S. invasion and years-long occupation, Iraq became a failed state.

Read more on Salon