Wiktionary
n. A state governed by a puppet government.
WordNet
n. a government that is appointed by and whose affairs are directed by an outside authority that may impose hardships on those governed [syn: puppet government, pupet regime]
Wikipedia
A puppet state is a metaphor of a state that is supposedly independent but is in fact dependent upon an outside power. It is nominally sovereign but effectively controlled by a foreign or otherwise alien power, for reasons such as financial interests.
A puppet state preserves the external paraphernalia of independence like a name, flag, anthem, constitution, law codes and motto but in reality is an organ of another state which created or sponsored the government. Puppet states are not recognised as legitimate under international law.
Usage examples of "puppet state".
The West is beginning to hammer out its own plans for the political and economic merger of their zones and, therefore, the Soviet Union must make unification impossible by the creation of a puppet state.
He'd see what concessions he could wring out of America and the Taiwanese puppet state.
With the coming of the little scaly devils to China, Japanese forces south of their puppet state in Manchukuo were reduced to little more than guerrilla bands, and, unlike the Communist guerrillas, did not enjoy the protection of the populace in which they moved.
We are to head west, past the North Cape of America's imperialist puppet state, Norway, then to turn southwest towards the Atlantic Ocean.