English Lexicon

State agency

/ˈsteɪt ˌeɪ.dʒən.si/
nounCEFR B2 (Upper)Top #4500 frequency
Full Thesaurus

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions.

    "The state agency responsible for environmental protection imposed new regulations on local industries."
  2. 2

    An administrative division of a state government operating at a regional level.

    "She applied for her professional license through the state agency for consumer affairs."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

The term combines 'state' (derived from the Latin 'status', meaning condition or standing, evolving through Old French into the political sense of a sovereign government) and 'agency' (from the Latin 'agentia', from 'agere', meaning to act or do). Established in modern political and administrative discourse during the 19th and 20th centuries to denote specialized governmental bodies created to administer specific legislation and public services.

Quick Vocabulary Retention Check

Which of the following is the closest synonym for "State agency"?

Thesaurus & Synonyms Graph

Explore Nuanced Synonyms for "State agency"

Discover exact matches, context-specific alternatives, and antonyms with intensity ratings in the VocabDictionary Thesaurus.

View "State agency" Synonym Map