ideal state

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A perfect or best possible condition or society that people imagine but may never achieve.

   Grammar: Countable; often used with 'the' and followed by 'of': the ideal state of health.

   Patterns

   • the ideal state of something
   • an ideal state for someone

   Philosophers have long debated what the ideal state would look like.

   The ideal state of the garden would have flowers all year round.

   In an ideal state, everyone would have equal access to education.

2. 2nounsingularspecialist

   In political philosophy, a theoretical society governed in the best possible way.

   Grammar: Usually singular and often capitalized in titles: Plato's Ideal State.

   Patterns

   • Plato's ideal state
   • the ideal state in political theory

   Plato described his ideal state in The Republic.

   The course compares the ideal state with real governments.

   Critics say the ideal state cannot exist because people are imperfect.

Word forms

Common combinations

the ideal state of something

The ideal state of a democracy is one where all voices are heard.

achieve an ideal state

No society has ever achieved an ideal state.

a vision of the ideal state

His book offers a vision of the ideal state.

in an ideal state

In an ideal state, there would be no poverty.

Synonyms and how they differ

utopia

Utopia is a whole imagined perfect world, while 'ideal state' often refers just to a perfect condition or a theoretical government.

paradise

Paradise is more often a perfect place or afterlife, not a political system.

Opposites

Word family

ideal adjective

Perfect or best possible.

ideally adverb

In the best possible situation.

Commonly confused: ideal state or idealistic?

Practice

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