“Texas is a country.”
Usage Entry 1487 / 1605 60-second read
Country vs. State
A sovereign nation versus a constituent unit of a federation.
The comparisoni
“Texas is a STATE within the United States. A COUNTRY is a sovereign nation. Different scales of political geography.”
The ruleii
¶
COUNTRY = sovereign. STATE = subdivision (US).
COUNTRY: a sovereign nation. STATE: usage varies — in US English, a constituent unit of a federation (Texas, California). In UK English (and political science), STATE often means the same as country (e.g., the State of Israel). Context matters.
Memory aidiii
Remember it like this
US: state ⊂ country.