Department of State

noun phrase

: the part of the U.S. government that is responsible for how the U.S. deals with other countries

Examples of Department of State in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Texas Department of State Health Services issued a statement Thursday, May 7, that the CDC had notified the state agency about two individuals who had left the ship and returned to the United States before the outbreak was identified. —Mateo Rosiles, USA Today, 7 May 2026

The Texans left the Dutch cruise ship before the outbreak was identified, according to a statement from the Department of State Health Services. —Ciara McCarthy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 May 2026

The lawsuit, filed by the Pennsylvania Department of State and State Board of Medicine, centers on whether conversational AI can cross into regulated professional territory. —Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 6 May 2026

Those plans angered victims' families, and some prominent state officials called for regulators to deny or delay renewal of the camp's license, which had been under review by the Texas Department of State Health Services. —Briauna Brown, CBS News, 30 Apr. 2026

Rhymes for Department of State

• borosilicate
• decontaminate
• deoxycholate
• deteriorate
• differentiate
• diisocyanate
• dinoflagellate
• excommunicate
• incapacitate
• insubordinate
• intercorporate
• interpenetrate

Legal Definition

Department of State

Agency

federal executive division responsible for carrying out U.S. foreign policy. It is the president's principal means of conducting treaty negotiations and effecting agreements with foreign nations. Under its control are the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, seven bureaus of political affairs, the U.S. Foreign Service (including 270 embassies, consulates, and diplomatic missions, and numerous subagencies), and various offices of diplomatic security, foreign intelligence, policy analysis, international narcotics control, protocol, and passport and medical services. The department's legal adviser advises the secretary of state on all matters of international law arising in the conduct of foreign relations.