Word
state machine
Definitions
01computing model
n. a system that can be in one of several fixed conditions, changing between them when it receives a specific signal.
n. a computational model consisting of a finite number of states, transitions between those states, and actions; often used to design logic circuits and software.
“The developer used a state machine to manage the different screens in the mobile app.”
“Implementing the protocol as a state machine ensured that the system could only transition to the 'authenticated' status after receiving a valid token.”
Technical
Usage
Often used with the verb 'implement' or 'design'.
Synonyms
02political apparatus
n. the collection of organizations and people that a government uses to control a country.
n. the institutional infrastructure and administrative apparatus through which a government exercises political power.
“The new laws were designed to strengthen the state machine and improve tax collection.”
“Marxist theory often critiques the state machine as a tool used by the ruling class to maintain social and economic dominance.”
Academic · Formal
Teaching tip
In political contexts, 'state machinery' is more common than 'state machine', which is now dominated by the computing sense.
Synonyms
Etymology
A compound formed from the noun state, denoting a particular condition or stage, and machine, referring to a device or conceptual apparatus. The term emerged from mid-twentieth-century mathematical logic and automata theory to describe abstract computational models.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Domain
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/state-machine