as in republic
a state that has its own government and consists of a city and the area around it
the city-states of ancient Greece
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of city-state
Singapore Singapore is home to one of the world’s top airports, thriving shopping malls for every budget, one of the best food scenes in the world, and an excellent public transit system that makes everything in this city-state easy to access.
—
Meena Thiruvengadam, Contributor, CNBC, 30 Nov. 2024
In the movie, Macrinus buys Lucius (Paul Mescal), who was brought to Rome from a conquered city-state, not realizing that Lucius is the illegitimate grandson of the great Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.
—Olivia B. Waxman, TIME, 22 Nov. 2024
Now the competitions that once united the fractured city-states of Greece connect people around the globe.
—Miriam Kamil, JSTOR Daily, 20 Nov. 2024
While Mesopotamia was sprouting city-states along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and building massive monuments like the Ziggurat of Ur (in what is now Iraq), development in Arabia appears to have been smaller, slower, and more modest, according to a report in PLOS ONE.
—Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 31 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for city-state 
Meena Thiruvengadam, Contributor, CNBC, 30 Nov. 2024
In the movie, Macrinus buys Lucius (Paul Mescal), who was brought to Rome from a conquered city-state, not realizing that Lucius is the illegitimate grandson of the great Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.
—Olivia B. Waxman, TIME, 22 Nov. 2024
Now the competitions that once united the fractured city-states of Greece connect people around the globe.
—Miriam Kamil, JSTOR Daily, 20 Nov. 2024
While Mesopotamia was sprouting city-states along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and building massive monuments like the Ziggurat of Ur (in what is now Iraq), development in Arabia appears to have been smaller, slower, and more modest, according to a report in PLOS ONE.
—Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 31 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for city-state
Recent Examples of Synonyms for city-state
Noun
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Doubtless, this is how Franklin found himself in Paris, persuading an absolute monarch to back the birth of a republic.—
Michael Sheldrick,
Forbes,
18 Jan. 2025
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Since its founding as a republic, Turkey had been charting a future based on a clean break with its Ottoman past, a time when Constantinople ruled Syria, but Erdogan openly embraced that past as a means to establish Turkey as a major power.—
Alia Malek,
New York Times,
17 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Global oil prices remain depressed years after the height of the coronavirus pandemic, affecting the kingdom's revenues.—
Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports,
arkansasonline.com,
24 Jan. 2025
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During that term, the United States pursued major deals with the kingdom, including arms sales.—
Ismaeel Naar,
New York Times,
23 Jan. 2025
Noun
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What Countries Allow Birthright Citizenship? While the United States is one of the most prominent examples, other nations also grant birthright citizenship.—
Justin Gest,
Newsweek,
21 Jan. 2025
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Such a move against Canada would hit its economy hard considering the two nations do in excess of half a trillion dollars a year in trade.—
Jeff Cox,
CNBC,
21 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The basis of this business empire is the Blago Group of Companies.—
Justin Gest,
Newsweek,
20 Jan. 2025
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The coins are bearers of ideology, the museum said, and have been found in the far reaches of Otto III’s empire and remote areas where they would have been used as the local currency.—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
17 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The Alliance for Automotive Innovation has pushed to continue the tax credit and other support, arguing that US automakers seeking to build and sell EVs need the help to compete with Chinese automakers who make far more vehicles than any other country, thanks to China’s focus on EV sales.—
Chris Isidore,
CNN,
22 Jan. 2025
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By 1997, when 84 countries signed the Kyoto Protocol to curb global greenhouse gas emissions, the oil industry had built an effective apparatus for actively discrediting climate science and opposing policies and actions that could help slow climate change.—
Joe Árvai,
The Conversation,
22 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Some are now demanding the royals reimburse the NHS — and even ditch the duchies altogether.—
Theresa Braine,
New York Daily News,
5 Nov. 2024
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The outlet said that the duchies earned about $65 million last year, with the Duchy of Lancaster driving about $35 million for the King and the Duchy of Cornwall making about $30 million for William.—
Janine Henni,
People.com,
4 Nov. 2024
Noun
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His policies, especially cutting taxes, are also popular in the commonwealth, and Earle-Sears’s popularity is higher due to her support for them.—
Paul Bedard,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
27 Jan. 2025
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Of course, the state’s senators, representatives and governor conduct the commonwealth’s business here.—
Kim Foley MacKinnon,
Forbes,
3 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The principalities in Anatolia also put up a fierce fight against the Ottomans, who conquered the region in the fifteenth century.—
Halil Karaveli,
Foreign Affairs,
2 Mar. 2016
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This adds six hectares of space to Monaco’s existing 208 hectares (a space only about two-thirds the size of New York’s Central Park), which brings the amount of land Monaco has added over the past sixty years to roughly 25% of the principality’s total size.—
Amy Rose Dobson,
Forbes,
22 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“City-state.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/city-state. Accessed 1 Feb. 2025.
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