Multistatal

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Pertaining to or involving multiple sovereign nations acting together or in conjunction for a common purpose; describing an entity or organization composed of several independent states united in cooperation; relating to policies or agreements that require coordination among various national governments
2. Concerning collaborations or arrangements among several countries working jointly; characterizing a system or body formed by the alliance of distinct nations; indicating governance or operations spanning more than one state or country simultaneously
3. Describing interactions, institutions, or frameworks that encompass various nation-states collaborating internationally; referring to a collective made up of numerous sovereign authorities; involving legal, political, or economic matters shared by multiple countries as partners or members

Etymology: "State" once meant nothing grander than a condition or standing. It comes from Latin "status," a standing position, which derives from "stare," to stand. The sense of a political community developed later, and "statal" is formed from that noun with the adjective suffix "-al," meaning relating to a state. Put the prefix "multi-," from Latin "multus," meaning many, in front and you get "multistatal," literally "many-state." The formation is regular and transparent, which is why writers can coin such compounds whenever they need to describe cooperation among several national governments. The word is rare, and it is a modern English assembly of Latin-derived parts rather than an inherited term.

Synonyms: interstate, multinational, federal, international

Antonyms: single-state, unistate