1
general::
Phrase(s): state of the art
using the most recent technology. (Hyphenated before nouns.) • Our company’s computer setup is strictly state of the art. • This state-of-the-art radio is capable of filling the whole room with sound.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
The highest level of development, very up-to-date, as in This new television set reflects the state of the art in screen technology. Despite including the word art, this term originated in technology, and its first recorded use appears in a 1910 book on the gas turbine. Today it is often used adjectivally, as in This is a state-of-the-art camera, and sometimes very loosely, as in That movie is state-of-the-art Woody Allen.
American Heritage Idioms