Converse of object

• self-govern: Relatively isolated and impoverished communities turned themselves into rich self-governing city-states exercising power that was felt and feared over a wide area.

• populate: The southern alluvial plain of Sumer and the more northerly Akkad were once densely populated city-states.

• war: For example, Stein ( 2002 ) compared the current state of bioinformatics to the warring Italian city-states of the middle ages.

Adjective modifier

• Greek: The need for philosophy, he thought, began with the break-up of the harmony of the polis, the ancient Greek city-state.

• Italian: The year before his birth, France had bought Corsica from the Italian city-state of Genoa.

• independent: The Spartans are trying to fight the independent city-state of Arcadia which is powerful in its own right.

• ancient: The need for philosophy, he thought, began with the break-up of the harmony of the polis, the ancient Greek city-state.

• small: The Classic period Maya were organized into numerous small city-states, each with their own king.

• Sumerian: This was when the two Sumerian city-states of Lagash and Umma brokered an agreement to end a water dispute along the Tigris River.

Modifies a noun

• system: To summarize: the coastal strip in LB II was organized as a fragmented city-state system and was in decline with evidence of unrest.

Noun used with modifier

• island: Leaving aside such island city-states as Singapore and Hong Kong, we now equal Holland as the most densely populated country in the world.