English Explanatory Dictionary

night watchman state

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Government that is limited to a bare minimum of functions, usually just military, police, and courts.

Word forms

night watchman state night watchman states night-watchman state

Etymology

Calque of German Nachtwächterstaat, which was coined by German socialist Ferdinand Lassalle in an 1862 speech in Berlin. He used this term to criticize the idea of a state with minimal government, comparing it to a night watchman whose sole duty was preventing theft.

Synonyms

minarchy minimal state
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on N Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary