Phrase guide

city state

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈsɪti steɪt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A sovereign city, as in Ancient Greece, often part of a league of such cities.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Singapore is the world's most populous city state and the only island city-state in the world.
  • The Vatican City State, a sovereign city-state governed by Holy See, has a large number of embassies across the world.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a state consisting of a sovereign city

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: city-state

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: state, nation, country, land, commonwealth, res publica, body politic

Narrower terms: Carthage

History

Etymology

From city + state, a calque of German Stadtstaat.

Across languages

Translations

91 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: دولة مدينة (dawla madīna) — sovereign city
  • Armenian: քաղաք-պետություն (kʻaġakʻ-petutʻyun) — sovereign city
  • Azerbaijani: şəhər-dövlət — sovereign city
  • Belarusian: Горад-дзяржава (Hórad-dzjaržava) — sovereign city
  • Bengali: নগররাষ্ট্র (nogroraśṭro) — sovereign city
  • Burmese: မြို့ပြနိုင်ငံ (mrui.pra.nuingngam) — sovereign city
  • Catalan: ciutat estat — sovereign city
  • Chinese Cantonese: 城邦 — sovereign city
  • Chinese Cantonese: 城國 /城国 — sovereign city
  • Chinese Cantonese: 市國 /市国 (si5 gwok3) — sovereign city
  • Chinese Cantonese: 城市國家 /城市国家 (sing4 si5 gwok3 gaa1) — sovereign city
  • Chinese Cantonese: 都市國家 /都市国家 (dou1 si5 gwok3 gaa1) — sovereign city
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 城邦 (siàng-băng) — sovereign city
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 城國 /城国 (siàng-guók) — sovereign city
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 市國 /市国 (chê-guók) — sovereign city
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 城市國家 /城市国家 (siàng-chê guók-gă) — sovereign city
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 都市國家 /都市国家 (dŭ-chê guók-gă) — sovereign city
  • Hakka Chinese: 城邦 (sàng-pâng) — sovereign city
  • Hakka Chinese: 城國 /城国 (sàng-koet) — sovereign city
  • Hakka Chinese: 市國 /市国 (sṳ-koet) — sovereign city
  • Hakka Chinese: 城市國家 /城市国家 (sàng-sṳ koet-kâ) — sovereign city
  • Hakka Chinese: 都市國家 /都市国家 (tû-sṳ koet-kâ) — sovereign city
  • Chinese: 城邦 (siân-pang) — sovereign city
  • Chinese: 城國 /城国 (siân-kok) — sovereign city
  • Chinese: 市國 /市国 (chhī-kok) — sovereign city
  • Chinese: 城市國家 /城市国家 (siân-chhī kok-ka) — sovereign city
  • Chinese: 都市國家 /都市国家 (to͘-chhǐ kok-ka) — sovereign city
  • Chinese Mandarin: 城邦 (chéngbāng) — sovereign city
  • Chinese Mandarin: 城國 /城国 (chéngguó) — sovereign city
  • Chinese Mandarin: 市國 /市国 (shìguó) — sovereign city
  • Chinese Mandarin: 城市國家 /城市国家 (chéngshì guójiā) — sovereign city
  • Chinese Mandarin: 都市國家 /都市国家 (dūshì guójiā) — sovereign city
  • Czech: městský stát — sovereign city
  • Danish: bystat — sovereign city
  • Dutch: stadstaat — sovereign city
  • Dutch: burgerij — sovereign city
  • Esperanto: Urboŝtato — sovereign city
  • Estonian: linnriik — sovereign city
  • Finnish: kaupunkivaltio — sovereign city
  • French: cité-État — sovereign city
  • Galician: cidade estado — sovereign city
  • Georgian: ქალაქ-სახელმწიფო (kalak-saxelmc̣ipo) — sovereign city
  • German: Stadtstaat — sovereign city
  • Greek: πόλη κράτος (póli krátos) — sovereign city
  • Greek: πόλη (póli) — sovereign city
  • Ancient Greek: πόλις (pólis) — sovereign city
  • Hebrew: עיר־מדינה ('ír-m'diná) — sovereign city
  • Hindi: नगर-राज्य (nagar-rājya) — sovereign city
  • Hungarian: városállam — sovereign city
  • Icelandic: Borgríki — sovereign city
  • Indonesian: negara kota — sovereign city
  • Italian: città-stato — sovereign city
  • Japanese: 都市国家 (toshikokka) — sovereign city
  • Japanese: 市国 (shikoku) — sovereign city
  • Kazakh: қала-мемлекет (qala-memleket) — sovereign city
  • Korean: 도시국가 (dosigukga) — sovereign city
  • Korean: 시국 (siguk) — sovereign city
  • Latin: cīvitās — sovereign city
  • Latin: urbs-civitas — sovereign city
  • Latvian: pilsētvalsts — sovereign city
  • Lithuanian: miestas-valstybė — sovereign city
  • Macedonian: град-држава (grad-država) — sovereign city
  • Malay: نݢارا کوتا — sovereign city
  • Malay: negara kota — sovereign city
  • Mongolian: хот улс (xot uls) — sovereign city
  • Norwegian Bokmål: bystat — sovereign city
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: bystat — sovereign city
  • Persian: دولتشهر (dowlat-šahr) — sovereign city
  • Polish: miasto-państwo — sovereign city
  • Portuguese: cidade-estado — sovereign city
  • Portuguese: cidade-Estado — sovereign city
  • Romanian: oraş-stat — sovereign city
  • Russian: го́род-госуда́рство (górod-gosudárstvo) — sovereign city
  • Scots: ceety-state — sovereign city
  • Serbo-Croatian: гра̑д-др̀жава — sovereign city
  • Serbo-Croatian: grad-država — sovereign city
  • Slovak: mestský štát — sovereign city
  • Slovene: mestna država — sovereign city
  • Spanish: ciudad estado — sovereign city
  • Swahili: dola-mji — sovereign city
  • Swedish: stadsstat — sovereign city
  • Tamil: நகர அரசு (nakara aracu) — sovereign city
  • Thai: นครรัฐ (ná-kɔɔn-rát) — sovereign city
  • Turkish: şehir devleti — sovereign city
  • Turkish: site devlet — sovereign city
  • Ukrainian: мі́сто-держа́ва (místo-deržáva) — sovereign city
  • Uzbek: shahar davlat — sovereign city
  • Vietnamese: thành bang — sovereign city
  • Volapük: zifatat — sovereign city
  • Welsh: dinas-wladwriaeth — sovereign city
  • Yoruba: ìlú — sovereign city