stateless

adjective

state·​less ˈstāt-ləs How to pronounce stateless (audio)
1
: having no state
2
: lacking the status of a national
a stateless refugee
statelessness noun

Examples of stateless in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The logic and its appeal The Kurds – roughly 30 million to 40 million people across Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran – are the world’s largest stateless ethnic group. John Calabrese, The Conversation, 7 Mar. 2026 In 2019, Colombia found itself home to twenty four thousand stateless babies, all of them the children of Venezuelan immigrants. Literary Hub, 24 Feb. 2026 His father was a refugee from Burma, a stateless child who fled the Japanese invasion of his home country during the Second World War, ending up in British India. Billy Perrigo, Time, 17 Feb. 2026 In recent months, the global shadow fleet moving sanctioned oil, estimated to be as large as 1,400 vessels, has navigated around the tightening U.S. enforcement campaign on Venezuela and Iranian oil, and Europe’s interventions against the increasing flow of stateless tankers loading Russian crude. Lori Ann Larocco, CNBC, 3 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for stateless

Word History

First Known Use

1858, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of stateless was in 1858

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Stateless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stateless. Accessed 28 Mar. 2026.

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