ship of state

noun

1. a nation or its affairs likened to a ship under sail.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ship of state¹

First recorded in 1665–75

Idioms and Phrases

The nation, as in We can't help but wonder who will be steering our ship of state a hundred years from now. This metaphoric expression was first recorded in English in a translation of Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince (1675).

Example Sentences

“We need to turn the ship of state around and get this democracy heading in the right direction,” Negron said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Constitution, may be her best yet, a capacious work that lands at the right moment, like a life buoy, as our ship of state takes on water.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Trump’s people, including White House press secretary, or as I like to call her, Pep Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told us Trump is on top of things and that corrections have to be made because the ship of state has been set adrift by the previous administration.

Read more on Salon

Following in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Gerald Ford’s attempt to right the ship of state, Carter blew into town an outsider intent on shaking up the Washington establishment.

Read more on Salon

And while Reagan successfully convinced us he alone had ended the Cold War, the rats like Mitch McConnell snuck into the ship of state and began eating at its foundation like so many rabid termites with a head full of bad hallucinogens and a stomach full of tapeworms.

Read more on Salon