city-states

plural of city-state

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of city-states Just as oil money transformed and modernized the Gulf into city-states of gleaming skyscrapers, centuries of wine money have polished this rural corner of Burgundy into an agri-luxury oasis. George Nelson For Artnews, Robb Report, 9 July 2026 As conditions worsened, city-states fought over power and resources. Lauren Mowery, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026 As children, Vi and Jinx lose their parents in an abortive revolution in Zaun, and years later find themselves on opposite sides of an unfolding power struggle between the two city-states. David Faris, TheWeek, 22 May 2026 With very few exceptions, an end was declared, not only to empires, but also to city-states, duchies, principalities, emirates, sultanates, caliphates, khanates, agencies, princely states, colonies, suzerains, dependencies, mandates, tributaries, condominia and protectorates. Literary Hub, 18 May 2026 His route to Sparta would have taken him through Corinth, Nemea, and Arcadia and avoided kingdoms or city-states not allied with Athens. Gitanjali Roy, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Mar. 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 Consequently, Persia abandoned its westward expansion, while various Greek city-states formed a tenuous alliance that lasted nearly 50 years. Debbie Felton, The Conversation, 8 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for city-states
Noun
  • Mysore was one of the most powerful kingdoms in southern India; its military was among the more modernized and effective fighting forces in the hodgepodge of principalities that made up India’s political map at the time.
    Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 2 July 2026
  • Even though the monarchy no longer exists in Rwanda, so revered are the cows that the traditional gifting and exchanging them among kingdoms has been embraced by Kagame.
    ABC News, ABC News, 27 June 2026
Noun
  • And then there was Vozinha, the 40-year-old Cape Verde goalkeeper, making his World Cup debut in a sport not inclined to celebrate old men playing for rookie nations.
    Jerry Brewer, New York Times, 20 July 2026
  • The data shows that democracies are overrepresented at the World Cup and also tend to do better than authoritarian nations – but does that matter?
    John A. Tures, Fortune, 19 July 2026
Noun
  • Another gripe for many is the American accents uniformly applied to these characters from Greek mythology when everyone knows that all the glorious empires of Hollywood speak exclusively in British accents.
    Hannah Abraham, Forbes.com, 18 July 2026
  • And that’s a larger problem because family entertainment empires like Disney can’t just rely on aging franchises.
    Brent Lang, Variety, 16 July 2026
Noun
  • Regional Arab countries, including Kuwait, are almost entirely dependent on desalination for drinking water.
    Brad Lendon, CNN Money, 17 July 2026
  • The ingredient, which has been used in Europe and other countries for years, provides broad-spectrum protection against both UVA and UVB rays.
    Kaitlyn Harvey, AJC.com, 17 July 2026

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Cite this Entry

“City-states.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/city-states. Accessed 22 Jul. 2026.

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