Word
stateless
Phoneticsstate·less
US/ˈsteɪtɫɪs/
UK/stˈeɪtləs/
Definition
adj. having no official nationality or legal connection to any country. This usually means a person cannot get a passport or legal protection from any government.
adj. lacking a legal nationality or formal political status within any sovereign state. Often used in legal and humanitarian contexts to describe individuals who are not recognized by any government.
Examples
“The refugee was stateless and could not travel anywhere.”
“International law provides specific protections for stateless individuals who are denied the basic rights of citizenship.”
“The researcher explored the historical causes of statelessness, noting how colonial borders and arbitrary legal decrees often left populations without a clear legal identity.”
Examples
simple
“The refugee was stateless and could not travel anywhere.”
contextual
“International law provides specific protections for stateless individuals who are denied the basic rights of citizenship.”
complex
“The researcher explored the historical causes of statelessness, noting how colonial borders and arbitrary legal decrees often left populations without a clear legal identity.”
Real-World Examples
“This is legal procedure for recognising Spanish nationality in minors born in Spain to foreign parents, where the parents are stateless or the laws of their countries of origin will not give them nationality.” “There may even be migrants who declare themselves stateless or have no way of proving who they are or where they come from, or people claiming asylum, something that the Spanish authorities cannot ignore.” Etymology
From state + -less.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Domains
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/stateless