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Glite Dictionary
🔬 A tiny arrangement 🏳️ A tiny country
microstate

microstate

5.9
A very small independent country with little land or few people
  • noun
  • /ˈmaɪkroʊˌsteɪt/
translation icon : microestado
  • If you compare microstates in Europe, you'll see they tend to do quite well in comparison with their neighbors.

Examples

  • San Marino is one of the oldest microstates in Europe, surrounded entirely by Italy.

  • Monaco is a well-known microstate that attracts many tourists with its luxurious casinos.

  • After visiting several microstates, she was amazed by how diverse their cultures could be.

Synonyms

ministate
vsmicrostate
1 7.2

A tiny independent country with little land or few people

has identical meaning but uses an alternate word form

How Big

empire
226 3.5
kingdom
276 2.0
city-state
8 5.1
microstate
5.9

Surface Forms

microstate singular
microstates plural

Morphology

microstate = state (transparent) = micro + state

This is a clear combination of micro- 'small' and state 'country', so the meaning 'very small country' is directly recoverable.

Etymology

The word microstate combines micro- ('small') and state ('country'). So a microstate is literally a 'small country', which is why we use it for nations with very little land or few people.