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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Recent Examples of city-state
In the wealthy city-state of Singapore, migrant workers are excluded from the country’s Employment Act and limits on working hours, among other protections, and are restricted from participating in union activities, the report said.
—
Elaine Kurtenbach, Los Angeles Times, 5 Feb. 2026
The mayor talked about the new level of city-state cooperation.
—Alexa Herrera, CBS News, 8 Jan. 2026
With crops failing and fears of starvation rising, some wealthy Italian city-states like Florence and Venice imported grain from elsewhere in the world.
—Evan Bush, NBC news, 4 Dec. 2025
An ensuing grain shortage threatened to spark a famine or civil unrest, so Italian city-states, such as Venice and Genoa, resorted to emergency imports from the Black Sea region, which helped keep the population fed.
—Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 4 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for city-state
Elaine Kurtenbach, Los Angeles Times, 5 Feb. 2026
The mayor talked about the new level of city-state cooperation.
—Alexa Herrera, CBS News, 8 Jan. 2026
With crops failing and fears of starvation rising, some wealthy Italian city-states like Florence and Venice imported grain from elsewhere in the world.
—Evan Bush, NBC news, 4 Dec. 2025
An ensuing grain shortage threatened to spark a famine or civil unrest, so Italian city-states, such as Venice and Genoa, resorted to emergency imports from the Black Sea region, which helped keep the population fed.
—Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 4 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for city-state
Recent Examples of Synonyms for city-state
Noun
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But the power of our democratic republic, built on three, coequal branches of government, is clearer than ever before.—
Sarah N. Lynch,
CBS News,
17 Apr. 2026
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While rumblings of a republic are never too far away, a survey taken at the end of the king’s last visit to Australia in 2024 showed most Australians wanted to keep the status quo.—
Hilary Whiteman,
CNN Money,
17 Apr. 2026
Noun
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When her mother goes missing, Diem Bellator suspects that the most powerful and most feared Descended in the kingdom – Prince Luther Corbois – may be responsible.—
Denise Petski,
Deadline,
17 Apr. 2026
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As Bastian reads, a boy named Atreyu (Noah Hathaway), while pursued by a green-eyed creature called G’mork (Alan Oppenheimer), is dispatched by the Childlike Empress (Tami Stronach) to find the cure for the mysterious nothingness enveloping the kingdom.—
David Faris,
TheWeek,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Starting now, work with other nations on a collective-action problem.—
Charles Yu,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
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Although in 2015, nearly 200 nations signed the Paris Agreement to curb emissions and limit global warming, progress still falls short of climate targets.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
20 Apr. 2026
Noun
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But Fuqua’s Hannibal is recognizably Black—an African insurgent taking on a European empire.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
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And like Murdoch’s, the Bolloré empire is run like a dynasty.—
Amanda Gerut,
Fortune,
17 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Canadian police say Law is suspected of sending at least 1,200 packages to more than 40 countries.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
18 Apr. 2026
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But neither Iran nor countries acting as intermediaries in the conflict have said Tehran has made such an agreement.—
Melanie Lidman,
Chicago Tribune,
17 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The Austrian archduchess Marie Louise, former empress of the French, who was granted Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla for her lifetime, preserved some of the Napoleonic administrative and legal structure in the duchy.—
Britannica Editors,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
12 Mar. 2026
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La Tour was born in Lorraine, a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1593, twenty-one years after Caravaggio, whose sensational combination of naturalism and theater, light and dark, formed him as a painter.—
Nicole Krauss,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Dhillon has already begun gearing up to bring a lawsuit against the commonwealth.—
Amy DeLaura,
The Washington Examiner,
12 Apr. 2026
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Beshear said last month that order helped the commonwealth make significant and important progress in the fight against addiction.—
Alex Acquisto,
CNN Money,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
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With that, Grace decided to abandon her blazing career in Hollywood and move to the small principality of Monaco.—
Francesca Pellegrini,
Vanity Fair,
19 Apr. 2026
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On this day in 1956, the two-day wedding celebration of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III began in the tiny European principality of Monaco.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
14 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“City-state.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/city-state. Accessed 22 Apr. 2026.
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