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 MacDonald, George
The company said Monday that it had reached this agreement with firms representing plaintiffs in the outstanding talc cases.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
"I think this work is an outstanding example of a collaboration between a translational clinical researcher and a basic science physiologist," said MacDougald.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
The film from Universal had an "outstanding hold" for its second weekend, industry analyst David A. Gross said, after it dropped only about 30 percent from its $124 million debut.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
The Fields Medal is given every four years to outstanding mathematicians under the age of 40.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
"Of course, of course. We're delighted to have another member of your outstanding family with us, Mrs. Das. And now I'm off to a quick faculty meeting."
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
This was most unjust, for Cadet Wilson outstood in baseball and lacrosse as well as football.
From Time Magazine Archive
They have outstood centuries of raging storm and rending earthquake.
From The Splendid Idle Forties Stories of Old California by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn
I have outstood my time; which is material To the tender of our present.
From Cymbeline by Shakespeare, William
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 Bunyan, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
