status
Americannoun
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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.
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high social or professional standing; prestige.
The Wilsons have status in the community because of their charitable work.
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state or condition of affairs.
Arbitration has failed to change the status of the disagreement.
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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.
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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
noun
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a social or professional position, condition, or standing to which varying degrees of responsibility, privilege, and esteem are attached
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the relative position or standing of a person or thing
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a high position or standing; prestige
he has acquired a new status since he has been in that job
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the legal standing or condition of a person
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a state of affairs
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing status
Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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Freak the Mighty
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Tuesdays with Morrie
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The implication: no one should defend the status quo.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
This week, millions of Haitians lost their temporary protected status, which shielded certain people from deportation on the grounds that they’d be sent back to horrible situations.
From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026
Observers say no meaningful progress is possible without Ankara's backing because of Turkey's status as a guarantor power.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
“However,” it said, “aiming to return to a status where the outcomes of most contests are known by the end of Election Week is a realistic goal.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
Every once in a while Festus the figurehead creaked and squeaked through the speakers, reporting the autopilot status in that weird machine language that only Leo could understand.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Plus, there’s the priceless drive-you-to-the plane perk typically reserved for travelers with those hush-hush airline statuses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
But as Nelson delegated the task of investigating those voters’ statuses to local election officials, confusion took hold.
From Salon ● Feb. 27, 2026
He repeated his criticism of the ruling and said levies "will remain in place under fully approved and tested alternative legal statuses", but offered little in the way of detail on his plans.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026
Real income has risen for people across all age brackets and marital statuses, and as more women entered the workforce, men did not lose out.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2025
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
