state university
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of state university
An Americanism dating back to 1825–35
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Johns Hopkins offered $16,000 more, making the cost less than that of a state university in New York, where the family lives.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 28, 2026
These buyouts are absurd, an outgrowth of a crazed marketplace and undeniably screwy optics at a state university.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025
George Mason, with more than 40,000 students, is the most racially diverse public research university in the state, university officials say.
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2025
They could then transfer those credits to their state university, and the cost of college could be cut in half.
From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2024
They played golf together and went out often—to movies, to the theater occasionally, to triple-A baseball games, and to the state university football games.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.