Phrase guide

status quo

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˌsteɪ.təs ˈkwəʊ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, US: /ˌstæt.əs ˈkwoʊ/
  • Canada, US: [ˌstæɾ.əs ˈkwoʊ]
  • Canada: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˌsteɪ.təs ˈkwoʊ/
  • US: [ˌsteɪ.ɾəs ˈkwoʊ]

1

noun

Meaning 1

The state of things; the way things are, as opposed to the way they could be; the existing state of affairs.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the existing state of affairs

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: situation, state of affairs

History

Etymology

From Latin status (“state”) (sometimes used in the ablative statū) + quō (“in which”), the ablative of quī (“which”).

Across languages

Translations

42 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: الوَضْع الرَاهِن (al-waḍʕ ar-rāhin) — the state of things
  • Armenian: ստատուս քվո (status kʻvo) — the state of things
  • Azerbaijani: status-kvo — the state of things
  • Bulgarian: стату́кво (statúkvo) — the state of things
  • Chinese Mandarin: 現狀 /现状 (xiànzhuàng) — the state of things
  • Danish: status quo — the state of things
  • Dutch: status quo — the state of things
  • Esperanto: antaŭstato — the state of things
  • Esperanto: ĝisnuna stato — the state of things
  • Finnish: status quo — the state of things
  • Finnish: vallitseva tila — the state of things
  • Finnish: nykyinen tilanne — the state of things
  • French: statuquo — the state of things
  • French: statu quo — the state of things
  • German: Status quo — the state of things
  • German: Ausgangslage — the state of things
  • German: Ausgangszustand — the state of things
  • Greek: καθεστώς (kathestós) — the state of things
  • Greek: στάτους κβο (státous kvo) — the state of things
  • Hebrew: סטטוס קוו — the state of things
  • Ido: nuna stando — the state of things
  • Indonesian: status quo — the state of things
  • Italian: status quo — the state of things
  • Japanese: 現状 (genjō) — the state of things
  • Khmer: ស្ថានភាពនៅដដែល (sthaan phiep nɨv dɑdael) — the state of things
  • Malay: status quo — the state of things
  • Norwegian Bokmål: status quo — the state of things
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: status quo — the state of things
  • Persian: وضع موجود (vaz'-e mowjud) — the state of things
  • Persian: وضع فعلی (vaz'-e fe'li) — the state of things
  • Polish: status quo — the state of things
  • Portuguese: status quo — the state of things
  • Portuguese: statu quo — the state of things
  • Romanian: statu-quo — the state of things
  • Russian: ста́тус-кво (státus-kvo) — the state of things
  • Spanish: statu quo — the state of things
  • Spanish: status quo — the state of things
  • Swedish: status quo — the state of things
  • Tagalog: kairalan — the state of things
  • Turkish: statüko — the state of things
  • Ukrainian: ста́тус-кво́ (státus-kvó) — the state of things
  • Yakut: статус-кво (status-kvo) — the state of things