What does status pending mean?

[DoninGA]

Your tax return will be Pending until the IRS starts accepting 2018 tax returns on or after 01/28/19.  You will receive an email from TurboTax when the tax return has either been accepted or rejected.  After the tax return has been Accepted by the IRS (meaning only that they received the return) it will be in the Processing mode until the tax refund has been Approved and then an Issue Date will be available on the IRS website - 

Use this TurboTax website to check the status of an e-filed return and if it was either accepted or rejected - https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/efile-status-lookup/

If accepted by the IRS use the federal tax refund website to check the refund status - https://www.irs.gov/refunds

If accepted by the state use this TurboTax support FAQ to check the state tax refund status - https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899433-how-do-i-track-my-state-refund