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status

[stey-tuh s, stat-uh s]
noun
  1. the position of an individual in relation to another or others, especially in regard to social or professional standing.
  2. state or condition of affairs: Arbitration has failed to change the status of the disagreement.
  3. Law. the standing of a person before the law.
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adjective
  1. conferring or believed to confer elevated status: a status car; a status job.
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Origin of status

1665–75; < Latin: the condition of standing, stature, status, equivalent to sta- (variant stem of stāre to stand) + -tus suffix of v. action
Related formsnon·sta·tus, adjective

Synonyms

2. See state.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

dignityprominenceplacestaturepositionprestigequalityconditionsituationratingstandingcalibercapacitydegreerenowngradefootingcharactermeritcachet

Examples from the Web for statuses

Contemporary Examples

British Dictionary definitions for statuses

status

noun plural -tuses
  1. a social or professional position, condition, or standing to which varying degrees of responsibility, privilege, and esteem are attached
  2. the relative position or standing of a person or thing
  3. a high position or standing; prestigehe has acquired a new status since he has been in that job
  4. the legal standing or condition of a person
  5. a state of affairs
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Word Origin

C17: from Latin: posture, from stāre to stand
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for statuses

status

n.

1670s, "height," later "legal standing of a person" (1791), from Latin status "condition, position, state, manner, attitude," from stare "to stand," from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Sense of "social or professional standing" is from 1820. Status symbol first recorded 1955.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
statuses in Medicine

status

(stā′təs, stăt′əs)
n.
  1. A state or condition.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
statuses in Culture

status

The relative position of an individual within a group, or of a group within a society.

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Note

Though the term can refer to either high or low standing, it is often used only to imply a position of prestige.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.