Before governments and societies were formed, humans lived in the state of nature, where it was every man for himself. Accounts of what this was like vary according to who you read. It means more or less the stone age period.
The human condition of natural freedoms and rights prior to the imposition of social organization and regulation (or social contract). It is a state, therefore, that may be thought of as either an alleged historical fact, or an hypothetical claim about what would be or would have been the case, given certain conditions that may or may not have occurred.
a wild primitive state untouched by civilization; "he lived in the wild"
The original state which human beings live in. Identified by Hobbes as being a state of aggressive war which must be overcome by a social contract and conversely argued to be a state of pre-civilised paradise by Rousseau..
Primitive state of anarchy idealized by said anarchists, and which generates the most emotional franzy amongst themselves. Some believe that rights would magically become an emergent property of the state of nature, some believe that life was somehow better in this state (despite the 40-year lifespan, criminality, despotism...). For an example of this delusion, see Rousseau's "Discourse on the Inequalities of Men".
"State of nature" is a term in political philosophy used in social contract theories to describe the hypothetical condition of humanity before the state's foundation and its monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force. In a broader sense of the word, a state of nature is the condition before the rule of positive law comes into being, thus being a synonym of anarchy.