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state of the art

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noun
  1. the latest and most sophisticated or advanced stage of a technology, art, or science.
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Origin of state of the art

First recorded in 1960–65
Related formsstate-of-the-art, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for state of the art

state of the art

noun
  1. the level of knowledge and development achieved in a technique, science, etc, esp at present
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adjective state-of-the-art (prenominal)
  1. the most recent and therefore considered the best; up-to-the-minutea state-of-the-art amplifier
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with state of the art

state of the art

The highest level of development, very up-to-date, as in This new television set reflects the state of the art in screen technology. Despite including the word art, this term originated in technology, and its first recorded use appears in a 1910 book on the gas turbine. Today it is often used adjectivally, as in This is a state-of-the-art camera, and sometimes very loosely, as in That movie is state-of-the-art Woody Allen.

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.