State loves welcoming greeting (4)
I believe the answer is:
ohio
'state' is the definition.
(Ohio is an example)
'loves welcoming greeting' is the wordplay.
'loves' becomes 'oo'.
'welcoming' is an insertion indicator (in sense of 'inviting in').
'greeting' becomes 'hi' (hi is a kind of greeting).
'oo' placed around 'hi' is 'OHIO'.
(Other definitions for ohio that I've seen before include "State of the union" , "The Buckeye State" , "One of the American states" , "US state, joined in 1803" , "State of east central US" .)