city state
1
4.7
- noun
- /ˈsɪti steɪt/
:
ciudad-estado
- The city-states of Greece are a classic example.
- Greek city state
And each one of those counties, you know, it's sort of like a city state almost.
- And each one of those counties, you know, it's sort of like a city state almost.
- They knew once you go beyond the level of a city state, democracy is impossible.
- He talks about the city state being naturally prior.
- It, as far as we know, most of the development would have been in the major Greek city states for literally hundreds of years of development.
Examples
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The Italian city-states operated under this principle for quite some time.
Academic text (2005) -
For two centuries, Sparta was the most powerful, most famous, and most feared city state in the Greek world.
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They knew once you go beyond the level of a city state, democracy is impossible.
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And this little tiny city state with a much smaller population, they were able to defeat this mighty, mighty army.
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For two centuries, Sparta was the most powerful, most famous, and most feared city state in the Greek world.
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Kuwait is a city-state that relies heavily on oil.
Academic text (1997) -
As these city-states developed their sovereignty, the Italian peninsula became an increasingly competitive and dangerous political coliseum.
Academic text (2005) -
During the centuries prior to the Athenian development of democracy in 508 BCE, the city-states of Greece, like all other ancient civilizations, were ruled by kings.
Blog text (19) -
The U.S. will want to see Kim outline concrete steps toward ending the nuclear program when the two leaders meet in the Asian city state on Tuesday.
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The Italian city states operated under this principle for quite some time.
Synonyms
8
5.1
A city that is an independent country with its own government
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an independent state consisting of a single city and its surrounding territory' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'city' and 'state' — essentially a state that is a city. This noun-noun compound follows regular compositional patterns common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
City state comes from the simple idea of a city that is also a whole state. In history, places like Athens or modern Singapore were a main town with the land around it, so city state means 'a country made of one city and its surrounding area'.