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Analogous words: *surprise, astonish, astound: rouse, arouse, *stir: electrify, *thrill state n State, condition, mode, situation, posture, status can all mean the way in which a person or thing manifests his or its existence or the circumstances under which he or it exists or by which he or it is given a definite character.State may be used so generally that it denotes merely a form of existence which has little or no relation to material being (as in space or time or as substance) but is purely immaterial and typically mental or spiritual{
[Dante's Inferno] reminds us that Hell is not a place but a state— T. S. Eliot
}The term may also be used specifically to name the combination of circumstances affecting a person or thing at a given time or the sum of the relations, qualities, or characteristics involved in his or its existence at the time under consideration{live fifty years happily in the state of matrimony
}{the present state of industry
}{the historian . . . visited Alexandria during the reign of this king. He was disgusted with its state— Farrington
}{parents have probably gone too far in one direction and nature's reacting, trying to get back to the state of equilibrium— Huxley
}Condition is interchangeable with state only when the effect or influence of present circumstances on actual or concrete existence is implied{the present condition of the country
}{it is a condition which confronts us, not a theory— Cleveland
}It regularly carries a stronger implication than state of a rela-tion to the causes or circumstances which produced or are producing the effect and a weaker suggestion of the duration of that effect; also, condition may be used in the plural in the sense of combination of circumstances and of qualities or characteristics, as state may not{his physical condition improved with rest and sufficient exercise
}{under the best conditions, a voyage is one of the severest tests to try a man— Emerson
}{I probably had been hoping ... the book would not change my life too much. I wished at that time to protect a modest condition— Mailer
}{there is no possible method of compelling a child to feel sympathy or affection; the only possible method is to observe the conditions under which these feelings arise spontaneously, and then endeavor to produce the conditions— Russell
}This suggestion of a relation to an external cause or causes is often so strong that the word frequently denotes a circumstance that serves as a causative influence or prerequisite rather than a combination of circumstances that form a state of being (see under CONDITION 1)Mode (see also METHOD; FASHION 2) is basically a philosophical term; typically it implies an opposition to the underlying reality which can be known only from its external manifestations (as color, form, and texture), and it usually applies to the combination of characters by which substance is manifested in a particular individual or instance{no mode . . . can exist except as the mode or modification of a substance; the substance is the abiding principle, the mode is transitory. The particular mode ... is but a temporal expression of the substance— Thilly
}{nearly all [painters] use color as a mode of form. They design in color, that is in colored shapes— Clive Bell
}In somewhat less restricted use the term can apply to something that expresses or exemplifies a typical form or value of a larger class; thus, the mathematical mode is the most frequent value in a statistical array; the mode of a rock is its specific mineral composition as distinguished from the norm of its kind{Rouse's mode unit is the smallest isolated item pertaining to a prehistoric manufacture .... This mode, or attribute, is a concept many archeologists work with in pottery classification— Willey
}Situation applies to a state or condition that represents a combination of definite concrete circumstances, often such a conjunction of particular circumstances that the whole has a peculiarly interesting character; more than state or condition, situation implies an arrangement of these circumstances not only with reference to each other but also with respect to the character or circumstances of the persons involved so as to make for a particular resulting condition (as of difficulty or advantage, embarrassment or elation, or uncertainty or security){such views of life were to some extent the natural begettings of her situation upon her nature— Hardy
}{there was a dizzy succession of events and of constantly changing situations for a politician to watch— Shirer
}{that slender, unrigid erectness, and the fine carriage of head, which always made him seem master of the situation— Cather
}The term is also applied to a comparably striking and interesting combination of events in a narrative, especially one whose outcome involves uncertainty or suspense{one knows the situation in fiction—the desperate girl appealing out of her misery to the Christian priest for help. So many women have this touch of melodrama, this sense of a situation— Rose Macaulay
}{a master of plot and situation, of those elements of drama which are most essential to melodrama— T. S. Eliot
}Posture (see also POSTURE 1) may be used in the sense of condition when that represents a state into which one is forced by need of preparation for something to come{put a warship in a posture of defense
}{[Christ] insisted upon a certain . . . posture of the soul as proper to man's reception of this revelation— Liddon
}{Spanish chants have no solemnity: . . . which doesn't preclude a general devout posture of mind— Santayana
}The term is often a closer synonym of situation than of condition{a virgin of thirty-two, already lapsing, though naturally attractive and sprightly, into the mental posture of old maidhood— Follett
}{production which will permit us to maintain both a strong economy and a strong military posture— Truman
}Status may indicate an individual's state or condition as determined with some definiteness for legal administrative purposes or by social or economic considerations{the change in the status of the Negro, under the Thirteenth Amendment, from three fifths of a person to a whole person in computing state apportionment— C. L. Thompson
}{a married woman's status was determined entirely by that of her husband— Ogg & Ray
}{the job which a person is supposed to do ... is what Linton and others call his role. The position which he occupies on the social ladder, as a result of his general practice of leading or following, supervising or being supervised, in the totality of his activities, is his status— Coon
}{the social sciences have been, since their institution, jealous of their status as science— R. M. Weaver
}{the city's status as a tourist attraction— Sargeant
}Sometimes the term specifically denotes a superior state or condition and then implies elevated rank in a hierarchy{make him feel a man of status in the community— Beaglehole
}{the status seekers . . . continually straining to surround themselves with visible evidence of the superior rank they are claiming— Packard
}{because she could not accept less than twenty pounds a week without loss of status and got it but rarely, she was doomed to remain an amateur— Yeats
}Even in uses in which it comes close to the specific aspect of state or the corresponding aspect of condition, status tends to retain some suggestion of a hierarchical relation and correspondingly, of comparison; thus, one might comment "his mental state, or condition, is a cause for concern" as a simple declaration, but "his mental status is unsatisfactory" implies comparison{established the bank's status as an independent international organization— Collier's Yr. Bk.
}{Keynes regards the rate of interest and the marginal efficiency of capital as possessing something like the status of independent variables— Feuer
}{a quiet German-American farming community, a status it managed to maintain for nearly two decades— Amer. Guide Series: Mich.
}Analogous words: *phase, aspect: plight, *predicament, quandary, dilemma: pass, *juncture, exigency, emergency, crisis
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
