state English · revision 1858

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1200 (Ancrene Riwle)|origins=ine-pro *sta-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /steɪt/^(Roach et al. 2011)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|stat]],^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995) [[bor|la|status|t=manner of standing, position, condition]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) partly through [[fro|estat]], and partly a shortened form of [[estate]].^(COED 2004)^(SOED 2002)^(Hoad 1986) The Latin word is a noun of action from the past participle stem of [[m|la|stāre|t=to stand]],^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) from [[ine-pro|*sta-|t=to stand]].^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) Its political senses came from Latin phrases such as [[m|la|status reī pūblicae|t=condition of the republic]].^(RHWU)^(Barnhart 1988) ''State'' is a doublet of ''estate'' and ''[[status]]''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Klein 1966) The verb is from the noun.^(Barnhart 1995)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Position in society, station; circumstances or condition (probably before 1200, in ''Ancrene Riwle'').^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the sense of a person's condition and standing came, by the early 14th century, the pomp and dignity befitting high rank, hence ''keep state'' (1590s) and ''lie in state'' (1705).^(Etymonline) The meanings “physical condition” and “stage or phase” date from about 1300,^(Etymonline) a mental or emotional condition from the 1530s, and the colloquial “agitated condition”, such as ''in a state'', from 1837.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(Dalzell 2013) The political sense grew out of the condition of a country with regard to its government (late 13th century);^(Etymonline) Barnhart dates the sense of a nation's government to about 1300,^(Barnhart 1995) Etymonline the body politic to the 1530s.^(Etymonline) In the 17th century a ''state'' could also be a republic, as opposed to a monarchy,^(Trench 1859)^(HTOED) and older writers used it for a canopied chair of state.^(Trench 1859)^(Skeat & Mayhew 1914) The sense of one of the states of a federation is first recorded in Jefferson's writings (1774), though the British colonies in North America were occasionally called states from the 1630s.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The verb first meant “to place, station” (in Marlowe, about 1590);^(Barnhart 1988) the sense “to declare in words” dates from the 1640s, from the idea of placing the words on record.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – rank, station; condition.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1300 – physical condition or phase; the government of a nation.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * early 14th century – pomp, dignity.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1530s – a mental condition; the body politic.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1590 – verb, to place, station.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1647 – verb, to declare in words.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1705 – ''lie in state''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1749 – ''state of mind''.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1774 – a member of a federation.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1837 – an agitated condition.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The condition of a person or thing at a given time: ''a state of confusion''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A mental or emotional condition, or ''(informal)'' an agitated or untidy condition: ''in a state''.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)^(Dalzell 2013)

+ # ''(physics)'' The physical condition of a system, such as solid, liquid or gas, or a definite energy condition of an atom.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Social position or rank; the pomp that goes with high rank: ''to lie in state''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A nation or territory organized as a political community under one government; its government.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)^(Black's Law 2004)

+ # One of the self-governing units of a federation, such as the [[United States]].^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+ # The civil government, as opposed to the church: ''church and state''.^(Etymonline)^(COED 2004)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To express in words; to [[declare]] or set out fully.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(SOED 2002)

+ # To fix or specify by authority: ''at stated times''.^(MW Collegiate)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of or relating to a state or its government; run by the state.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Used for or involving ceremony: ''a state visit''.^(Collins 2023)^(COED 2004)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[statable]]

+ * [[all-state]]

+ * [[antistate]]

+ * [[bistate]]

+ * [[costate]]

+ * [[counterstate]]

+ * [[downstate]]

+ * [[interstate]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[estate]]

+ * [[statistics]]

+ * [[status]]

+ * [[stand]]

+ * [[stately]]

+ * [[statement]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''State'' and ''condition'' are the most general words for the way a person or thing is, and are often interchangeable;^(AHD) ''situation'' is narrower, the condition at a given time as set by circumstances, and ''status'' refers to standing.^(AHD)^(RHWU) As a verb, ''state'' is stronger than ''say'', implying that something is put forward as fact;^(Wiktionary) William Cullen Bryant listed it, as a synonym of ''say'', among the words banned in his style guide for the ''New York Evening Post''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}