a politically organized body of people under a single government; "the state has elected a new president"; "African nations"; "students who had come to the nation's capitol"; "the country's largest manufacturer"; "an industrialized land"

a civil division of the state for purposes of governmental administration

The whole people acting collectively in controlling the State

(1) a politically organized body of people under a single government, (2) a number of individuals spoken of collectively, usually as united by political ties, or organized for a political purpose, and generally with overtones of a "collective whole or totality".

Body politic or body corporate and politic means a state or one of its subordinate civil authorities, such as a province, prefecture, county, municipality, city or district.