state of the art

American  

noun

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

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state of the art British  

noun

1. the level of knowledge and development achieved in a technique, science, etc, esp at present

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adjective

1. the most recent and therefore considered the best; up-to-the-minute

   a state-of-the-art amplifier

state of the art Idioms  

1. 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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Other Word Forms

• state-of-the-art adjective

Etymology

Origin of state of the art

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

The Terafab will focus on so-called two-nanometer nodes, which represent the state of the art in semiconductor design and manufacturing.

From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026

Researchers meanwhile have prioritized state of the art technology that could lead to artificial general intelligence, or AGI, but don’t do as much to improve the basic chatbot experience.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 9, 2025

Beautiful as it is, it's hard to imagine that this elderly machine was ever state of the art.

From BBC • Aug. 8, 2025

But the recordings he made were not state of the art, even in their own time.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 2, 2025

In 1971, this was state of the art.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell