superstate

noun

su·​per·​state ˈsü-pər-ˌstāt 

plural superstates

1

: an extremely powerful nation or governing body having power over subordinate states

… Orwell's protagonist, Winston Smith, … starts keeping a forbidden diary in response to draconian rule in the fictional superstate of Oceania.

—Steve Barnes

The superb baroque staircase, lined with imperial Roman busts and portraits of emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, symbolizes the majestic superstate, founded in 800, by which Europe was haunted and embraced for a thousand years.

—Philip Mansel

2

: a union or federation of nations under a supergovernment

In her speech to the Congress of Prague, she [Margaret Thatcher] described "the drive toward a European superstate, with its own government, its own laws, its own currency and its own citizenship," …

—Peter Brimelow

Ukrainians themselves are split over the sacrifices involved in giving up Russian markets and financial aid to gamble on moving into the European Union's modern economic superstate.

—Jim Hoagland

Examples of superstate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

No country or superstate is ever going to get AI legislation 100% right, but around the world, countries are starting to regulate AI. —Bob Goodson, Fortune Europe, 16 Oct. 2024

Roberts’s principal concern is the durability of these superstates. —Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Affairs, 23 Apr. 2024

Roberts thus sees the EU as more durable than the other superstates. —Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Affairs, 23 Apr. 2024

Orwell’s novel is set in an imagined future beset by war, surveillance and propaganda where Great Britain is a province of totalitarian superstate Oceania, ruled by the Party, led by Big Brother. —Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 7 Dec. 2021

Brexit was the culmination of the growing realization that Britain was becoming a vassal state to the ever-expanding and intrusive, both geographically and politically, European Union superstate. —New York Times, 2 Apr. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1905, in the meaning defined at sense 1