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

Since the modern nation-state system was organized by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1688, state sovereignty has been the bedrock of international law.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 23, 2026

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 • Nov. 7, 2025

F5 experienced a security breach, giving nation-state affiliated hackers persistent access to systems and stealing BIG-IP source code and vulnerability data.

From Barron's • Oct. 16, 2025

Any well-read person is likely to consider the rise of the modern nation-state to be a distinctly mixed bag, as the history of the last two or three centuries has demonstrated.

From Salon • Jun. 22, 2025

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