status quo
151
4.6
- noun
- /ˈsteɪtəs ˈkwoʊ/
:
status quo
- If we want to change the status quo, we must go about it in a democratic way.
- maintain the status quo
- challenge the status quo
- change the status quo
If you don't like the status quo, start asking questions.
- If you don't like the status quo, start asking questions.
- They're saying, well, I'm against the status quo, I'm against convention.
- And so for that class, the status quo is pretty good.
- The grief can be so overwhelming that returning to the status quo, frankly, can feel easier.
- It enables a toxic person and it keeps a sick status quo stuck where it is.
- Well, I just don't see myself maintaining the status quo that I'm at right now.
- And that if you're happy with your status quo and all the stuff in your house, great.
- That's popular and that creates fear of the status quo and hope for a better future.
- So wars are fantastic for destroying status quo.
- They just wanted to shatter the status quo.
- Like is it fast enough to overtake the status quo?
- This, this illusion of, of a continued status quo is to me extremely dangerous.
- I suggest that you embrace the status quo to change the system.
Examples
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If we want to improve our community, we need to challenge the status quo and propose new ideas.
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In that scheme of things, the status quo wins every time.
Fiction book (1999) -
This has been the status quo, but now things are changing.
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Please bring us back to the status quo because we were doing fine.
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And so for that class, the status quo is pretty good.
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This does appear to be the status quo at this point.
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Is it not the political and social status quo that adult education should aim to change?
Academic text (2011) -
The first is saying the status quo is unacceptable.
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Committees may simply decide to maintain the status quo out of fear of causing problems.
Academic text (2011) -
Clearly, China's policy was to maintain the status quo, with the British colonial government in charge.
Academic text (1999)
Synonyms
713
4.8
The general situation or facts about something
658
2.9
A current condition of something at a specific time
33
3.4
The general situation at a certain time
16
4.2
The state of government, parties, and power in a country or region
16
4.5
The current situation and main facts about a place or group
5
8.2
A situation with little change because two sides balance each other
Antonyms
241
3.7
A complete change in form or appearance, for example a caterpillar becoming a butterfly
How Stable
Surface Forms
Morphology
status + quo
The phrase is a lexicalized Latin borrowing: while 'status' is English and means a current condition, 'quo' is not an English word and its contribution is opaque to learners. The overall meaning 'the existing state of affairs' cannot be straightforwardly derived from the listed constituents, so a B1 learner who only knows the given words would likely not infer the idiomatic meaning.
Etymology
Status quo comes from old Latin words used by lawyers meaning 'the state things are in'. It keeps that literal idea today, so the phrase means the existing situation or way things are now.