status

American  

[stay-tuhs, stat-uhs] / ˈsteɪ təs, ˈstæt əs /

noun

• statuses
  plural

1. 

   the position of an individual in relation to another or others, especially in regard to social or professional standing.

   Women in India have a lower status than men and therefore less control over money.

2. high social or professional standing; prestige.

   The Wilsons have status in the community because of their charitable work.

3. state or condition of affairs.

   Arbitration has failed to change the status of the disagreement.

4. Law. the standing of a person before the law.

   Those students can receive the same tax breaks as citizens, regardless of their status as immigrants.

5. Digital Technology. a short post on a social networking website or messaging application that gives information about the user’s present situation, activities, thoughts, etc..

   I changed my Facebook status from married to single.

---

adjective

1. conferring or believed to confer elevated status.

   a status car; a status job.

status British  

/ ˈsteɪtəs /

noun

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; prestige

   he 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

---

status Cultural  

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

---

Usage

Plural word for status The plural form of status is statuses (not stati). Even though status is derived from Latin, it isn’t pluralized by replacing the -us ending with -i, as is done in many other Latin-derived words ending in -us, such as cactus/cacti and fungus/fungi. Most words ending in -s, -ss, -ch, -sh, -x, and -o follow the conventional pluralization pattern of simply adding -es. However, several other words that end in -us are pluralized in the same way as status, including surplus/surpluses and census/censuses. Do you know: What is the plural of radius?

Synonym Usage

See state.

Discover More

Though the term can refer to either high or low standing, it is often used only to imply a position of prestige.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonstatus
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• statuses
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of status

First recorded in 1665–75; from Latin: “the condition of standing, stature, status,” equivalent to sta- (variant stem of stāre “to stand”) + -tus suffix of verbal action; see origin at stand

---

Explanation

If someone wants to know the status of something, they want to know what condition it's in, where it is, or how much progress it's made. You've probably checked the status of your flight to see if it's on time or delayed. Status doesn't only apply to the state of flights, projects, and traffic jams — it also can be used to refer to a person's social standing or rank. In fact, status was first used in reference to someone's height, and later, their legal standing. Someone with VIP status gets to fly first class and probably has a bunch of photographers following them.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

status statuses

A famous example: The IRS revoked Bob Jones University’s tax-exempt status for its discriminatory admissions and student-conduct policies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

In the Cornell backlash, he blamed "people who felt that the status quo was being threatened, people who didn't like the idea of women being treated equally, people who wanted to shut up women."

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026

After all, it’s been almost 30 years since her first stint at Fendi as an accessories designer, working alongside the five Fendi sisters and helping launch the house to cult status in the Y2K era.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

Software can also model different scenarios, like assuming a married filing status and then stress testing different outcomes if one spouse should die earlier than their expected longevity.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026

This new vocabulary was crucial to explaining the status of the new knowledge, and yet it is a language that we have come to take so completely for granted that its invention has become invisible.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Many households are made up of families whose members have mixed legal statuses, including some who have lived in the area for generations.

From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2026

The Social Security Administration did not respond to a request for comment, or to questions regarding why there was so much incomplete data or what about citizenship statuses were inaccurate.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026

“This is probably going to put them in touch with lots of other Latinos of different migration statuses in a way that is not necessarily about competition, but much more about helping,” Mora said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

ScotRail said on-train staff will have an app that links to a central database for showing ticket machine availability and the opening statuses of ticket offices.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

His statuses didn’t provide much context about his life, only that he’d been a loner who preferred runs with his golden retriever Turbo instead of social outings with his classmates.

From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• condition
• dignity
• place
• position
• prestige
• prominence
• quality
• rating
• situation
• stature

---