outstand
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
verb
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(intr) to be outstanding or excel
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(intr) nautical to stand out to sea
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archaic (tr) to last beyond
Usage
What does outstand mean? To outstand is to stay or remain beyond, as in Mattie outstood the rain during the long hike and managed to reach the end. To outstand is also to be prominent or surpassing. When you outstand someone else, you are more prominent, conspicuous, or striking than the other person (go, you!). You might outstand someone in terms of social status, physical size, beauty, charisma, or anything else you might compare people about. Example: Mateo really outstood at the competition tonight.
Etymology
Origin of outstand
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Bad press notices and the lack of any outstand ing talent other than Clark & McCullough put Here Goes the Bride into the past tense.
From Time Magazine Archive
Would the foundations of the house outstand it?
From Sir Gibbie by George MacDonald
MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman, in a research note on Friday, said that DraftKings was “essentially putting all of their chips on the future of a business that still has plenty of outstanding unknowns.”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
Xyra is offering to pay off a higher proportion of Poundland's outstanding debts than Martin Property Group, which previously submitted a bid that Gordon Brothers rejected.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
Under the agreement, Jimenez’s lawyers would drop any outstanding court requests and agree to delay the judge’s order to produce the records, according to court filings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
A State Department document shows Israel would need about $10 billion to pay for outstanding orders beyond 2028.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
His story turned out to be one of outstanding heroism: having remained aboard the foundering Athenia to minister to injured passengers and crew, he was the very last passenger to board a lifeboat.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
This was most unjust, for Cadet Wilson outstood in baseball and lacrosse as well as football.
From Time Magazine Archive
The fig-tree here mentioned was blessed with the application of means, had time allowed it to receive the nourishment; but it outstood, withstood, overstood all, all that the husbandman did, all that the vine-dresser did.
From Works of John Bunyan — Volume 03 by John Bunyan
They have outstood centuries of raging storm and rending earthquake.
From The Splendid Idle Forties Stories of Old California by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
I have outstood my time; which is material To the tender of our present.
From Cymbeline by William Shakespeare
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
