Origin: Latin suffix -ate
Free state has 6 different meanings across 2 categories:
a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies
any state prohibiting slavery prior to the American Civil War
a province in central South Africa that was colonized by the Boers; named Free State in 1997
A political entity whose political status is less than that of a fully sovereign nation-state, as with the former Congo Free State and the former Irish Free State.
Alternative letter-case form of free state
A province of South Africa. Capital: Bloemfontein, formerly Orange Free State.