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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To build a bridge between the two groups to put the people back in their rightful place at the head of the republic.—
Aaron Everitt,
STAT,
10 Apr. 2026
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One would, in fact, be hard-pressed to discover within the historical records of the republic a Cabinet member more hermetically aligned with his commander in chief’s agenda than Hegseth.—
Kelly Sloan,
The Orlando Sentinel,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
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This small Buddhist kingdom in the eastern Himalayas between China and India is experiencing growth in tourism after opening to international visitors only 50 years ago.—
Patricia Doherty,
Travel + Leisure,
12 Apr. 2026
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Meanwhile, separate attacks on Saudi Arabia’s Manifa and Khurais oil fields have cut the kingdom’s production by roughly 600,000 barrels per day, the Saudi Press Agency said.—
Lee Ying Shan,Sam Meredith,
CNBC,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Unions representing teachers and principals reached tentative contract agreements with nation’s second-largest school district over the weekend.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
14 Apr. 2026
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Trotsky’s arguments about revolution in one nation versus a revolution of the international proletariat, like the fine argumentative tracery of Paul’s Jewish Christians versus Greek ones, seemed vital to the movement at the time but weirdly trivial and abstract to those outside it.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
Noun
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If Paul’s creed is essentially Roman, then Christianity looks, from the outset, like a religion trained to live with empire, its compass always set toward placating power.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
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Situated at the crossroads of empires — from Persian and Roman to Byzantine, Arab, and Ottoman — it has long been shaped by conquest and survival.—
Marlise Kast-Myers,
Boston Herald,
12 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Perhaps as a result, various European countries had introduced academic programs in the new field of music geragogy—the study of music-learning in old age.—
Tim Parks,
New Yorker,
11 Apr. 2026
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Plus, targets in countries where people generally make lower incomes may be less likely to turn down job offers.—
Jessica Klein,
PC Magazine,
11 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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After his father’s accidental death, the 11-year-old Babur succeeded to the throne of Fergana, a small principality.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
14 Apr. 2026
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Monaco’s princess brides leave their bouquets at the Sainte-Dévote Chapel dedicated to the principality’s patron saint.—
Bailey Bujnosek,
InStyle,
11 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“City-state.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/city-state. Accessed 17 Apr. 2026.
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