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

To them, the nation-state is something to be developed, not erased.

From The Wall Street Journal

Overruling Trotsky’s drive for a never-ending worldwide revolution, Stalin normalized the Soviet Union as a nation-state that traded and maintained diplomatic relations with the West.

From The Wall Street Journal

If you’re a high-profile individual being individually targeted by a well-funded nation-state, a commercial VPN alone probably won’t help much.

From Salon

To be clear, nobody is going to entirely deter a nation-state from conducting espionage.

From Barron's

That work argued that America has never been a nation-state in the sense of a France or a Germany.

From The Wall Street Journal