State

Last updated October 02, 2025

State most commonly refers to:

State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
- Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
- Nation state, a state where the majority identify with a single nation (with shared culture or ethnic group)
- Constituent state, a political subdivision of a state
- Federated state, constituent states part of a federation (examples below)
State of nature, a concept within philosophy that describes the way humans acted before forming societies or civilizations

State may also refer to:

Arts, entertainment, and media

Literature

State Magazine , a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
The State (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
Our State , a monthly magazine published in North Carolina and formerly called The State
The State (Larry Niven), a fictional future government in three novels by Larry Niven

Music

Groups and labels

States Records, an American record label
The State (band), Australian band previously known as the Cutters

Albums

State (album), a 2013 album by Todd Rundgren
States (album), a 2013 album by the Paper Kites
States, a 1991 album by Klinik
The State (album), a 1999 album by Nickelback

Songs

"The State", a 2011 song by Porter Robinson from Spitfire

Television

The State (American TV series), 1993
The State (British TV series), 2017
State (Friday Night Lights), an episode of the TV series Friday Night Lights

Other

State Theatre (disambiguation), several theatres
The State (comedy troupe), an American comedy troupe

Law and politics

Rechtsstaat , the legal state (constitutional state, state subordinated to law) in the philosophy of law and as a principle of many national constitutions
United States Department of State, a division of the executive branch of the United States federal government, dealing with foreign affairs; sometimes referred to as "State", for short, in American political jargon.

Federated states

Constituent states

The Estates or the States, a national assembly of the estates of the realm, an early form of legislature that was common throughout feudal Europe:

States of Alderney, the government and parliament of Alderney
States of Deliberation, the government and parliament of Guernsey
States of Jersey, including the States Assembly parliament and the Government of Jersey executive
States-General (disambiguation), a name for several historic and current national assemblies

Locations

State College, Pennsylvania, a city in the United States, often referred to informally as "State"
- State College Area High School, or "State High"
State station, subway station in Boston
State station (CTA), in Chicago

Mathematics

State (controls), a term related to control theory
State (functional analysis), a positive linear functional on an operator algebra
State, in dynamical systems, is a fixed rule describing the time dependence of a point in a geometrical space

Science and technology

Computing

State (computer science), a unique configuration of information in a program or machine
- Program state, in computer science, a snapshot of the measure of various conditions in the system
State (website), semantic web platform created by London, UK-based Equal Media Ltd
State pattern, in computer science, a behavioral design pattern

Healthcare

Medical state, one's current state of health, usually within a hospital
Mental state

Physics and chemistry

State, a complete description of a system in classical mechanics
Chemical state, the electronic, chemical and physical nature of an element
Quantum state, the state of a quantum mechanical system given by a vector in the underlying Hilbert space
Stationary state, an eigenvector of a Hamiltonian
State of matter, solid, liquid or gaseous phases of matter; describing the organization of matter in a phase
Thermodynamic state, a set of physical quantities describing variable properties of a given thermodynamic system

Printing

State (printmaking), distinct revisions of a work by a deliberate change to the print master

Universities

Ball State University, in Muncie, United States
Georgia State University, in Atlanta, United States
Michigan State University, in East Lansing, United States
Michigan State Spartans, the athletic teams, commonly referred to as "State"

Other uses

State (theology), a degree or stage of perfection in the Christian religion
States (automobile), cyclecar manufactured by the States Cyclecar Co of Detroit, Michigan in 1915