An approximate synonym for republic or commonwealth, as with the former Orange Free State, and especially as used for the current United Kingdom to refer to the Commonwealth period under Cromwell
A Federal state, with allegiance to a larger entity, as currently with Germany, and earlier, the relationship between the states of the Holy Roman Empire and the Emperor, and later, the states of the German Empire under the Hohenzollerns
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
a province of South Africa, in the area south of Johannesburg and west of Lesotho, whose capital city is Bloemfontein. It used to be called the Orange Free State, and it was an independent state in the 19th century, but became part of South Africa after the Boer War of 1899-1902
{i} U.S. state in which slavery was illegal prior to the Civil War; agricultural region and administrative district in South Africa (formerly known as Orange Free State)