"state" vs "status"

[PullMeUnder]

Hi,

I was wondering about the distinction of the two words state and status. Context: "A bug goes through a cycle of different statuses".

From what I've found in dictionaries, the two words seem absolutely interchangeable in this context. For me, that makes using state instead of status preferable, since it's shorter and the plural is less cumbersome.

Thanks in advance,
Thorsten

 

[kazarre]

Personally, I would write:

A bug goes through a cycle of different states".

As it relates more to a "condition".

Hope this helps.

 

[PullMeUnder]

Personally, I would write:

A bug goes through a cycle of different states".

As it relates more to a "condition".

Hope this helps.

Thanks, it did help indeed. I had already followed my instincts on that one and edited all occurences of "status(es)" to "state(s)", but it's good to know I'm not alone with that.

 

[Coyoacan]

And, I too have been enlightened today. Thanks! Seemed like the natural thing to do changing that statuseseseseseses tongue-twister to States. (MUCH cleaner, clean, concise, nicer-looking.) =D

 

[konungursvia]

Ok, I'll tell you my two cents: a state is any condition which is durable or lasting (Zustand, Istzustand) whereas a status is a classification of state among several well-defined possibilities. An immigrant's status is either legal or illegal, and if he is the latter, he may be in an anxious emotional state.

 

[pcc7510]

Hi, there!
Is there any difference between status and state?
Whenever I make a sentence with the word, I'm always confused which is the best choice. I usually use the word working with a computer program. For instance, The error message will be displayed on the state bar or You can also force an update of the state by clicking the Update Now button. Actually, I used to use only the word, state, in every sentence because I don't want to think too much. But I'm still curious.

thanks.

 

[panjandrum]

Hello pcc7510, and welcome to WordReference.

I'm moving your post onto the end of a previous thread on this topic. You may find the answer here. If not, feel free to ask for more clarification.

I think I would use status in your examples.

 

[pcc7510]

Wow! How did you know the question that already has been issued?
You must be genius!
But I'm afraid I'm still not clear.

 

[panjandrum]

I must be honest, pcc7510, I looked for status in the WR dictionary and I found the link to the earlier threads at the bottom of the page.
http://www.wordreference.com/definition/status

No genius required - thanks, though.

I like the explanation in post #5.
For something that is going through a process I think status is best.
What is the status of my order?
Received, authorised, picked, packed, dispatched, invoiced, paid - that kind of thing.
That's why in your case I would probably be displaying the status of something in the status bar - perhaps in little coloured status indicators, green OK, orange getting worried, red panic.

 

[pcc7510]

Ah ha~! It's better and I prefer your explanation.
I didn't know that there is a dictionary. English-Korean dictionary just say exactly same word. It also was very helpful.
Thank you for your kindness.

 

[NoClue]

I wanna ask a question too.
I often see this "Marriage status: Single/Married/Divorced" in the official document. But in talking, this is more what I hear "I'm in a single/married state". Why is that??

 

[Zarbuck]

I think the difference between the two is interpretation. State needs no interpretation, while status does.

If state is "the way something is with respect to its main attributes", then I could just list the attributes. So the state of someone's health might be that her heart is under stress, the lungs are blocked, or the liver is failing.

Status is usually a predefined or generally accepted term that summarizes many different states. The status of someone's health might be critical, grave, stable.

In programming, I collect a number of states that have no functional difference and I create a single status for them.