In spite of being without status (15)
I believe the answer is:
notwithstanding
'in spite' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'without status' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'without' could be 'not' and 'not' is located in the answer.
'status' could be 'standing' (standing is a kind of status) and 'standing' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'with' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'of being' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for notwithstanding that I've seen before include "anyway" , "Despite" , "yet" , "without being still" , "However" .)