1. A condition or mode of being, as with regard to circumstances: a state of confusion.

2. A condition of being in a stage or form, as of structure, growth, or development: the fetal state.

3. A mental or emotional condition: in a manic state.

4. Informal. A condition of excitement or distress.

5. Physics. The condition of a physical system with regard to phase, form, composition, or structure: Ice is the solid state of water.

6. Social position or rank.

7. Ceremony; pomp: foreign leaders dining in state at the White House.

8. a. The supreme public power within a sovereign political entity. b. The sphere of supreme civil power within a given polity: matters of state.

9. A specific mode of government: the socialist state.

10. A body politic, especially one constituting a nation: the states of Eastern Europe.

11. One of the more or less internally autonomous territorial and political units composing a federation under a sovereign government: the 48 contiguous states of the Union.

1. Of or relating to a body politic or to an internally autonomous territorial or political unit constituting a federation under one government: a monarch dealing with state matters; the department that handles state security.

2. Owned and operated by a state: state universities.