nation-state

American  

[ney-shuhn-steyt] / ˈneɪ ʃənˌsteɪt /

noun

1. a sovereign state inhabited by a relatively homogeneous group of people who share a feeling of common nationality.

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nation-state British  

noun

1. an independent state inhabited by all the people of one nation and one nation only

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Etymology

Origin of nation-state

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nation-state

Besides concerns about fiscal conditions and inflation, a key thing pushing up yields is the AI industry’s huge appetite for debt, which puts it in competition with traditional nation-state borrowers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

The notion that the nation-state is outdated, and could therefore be replaced with blockchain technology, is one of the reasons h e decided to run to become Liberland's prime minister.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

The terminology we use to talk about “countries” has been naturalized over centuries by the dominance of the form of the nation-state on the global political scene.

From Slate ● Jul. 4, 2026

Residential proxy networks are now a go-to resource for nation-state hackers, who use them as a conduit to U.S. targets, said Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Division.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026

What I knew of Orgoreyn indicated that it had become, over the last five or six centuries, an increasingly mobilizable society, a real nation-state.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin