staff

¹ American  

[staf, stahf] / stæf, stɑf /

noun

• staffs,
  plural,  plural
• staves
  plural

1. a group of persons, as employees, charged with carrying out the work of an establishment or executing some undertaking.

2. a group of assistants to a manager, superintendent, or executive.

3. a member of a staff.

4. Military.

   1. a body of officers without command authority, appointed to assist a commanding officer.

   2. the parts of any army concerned with administrative matters, planning, etc., rather than with actual participation in combat.

5. those members of an organization serving only in an auxiliary or advisory capacity on a given project.

6. a stick, pole, or rod for aid in walking or climbing, for use as a weapon, etc.

7. a rod or wand serving as a symbol of office or authority, as a crozier, baton, truncheon, or mace.

8. a pole on which a flag is hung or displayed.

9. something that supports or sustains.

10. Music. Also a set of horizontal lines, now five in number, with the corresponding four spaces between them, on which music is written.

11. Archaic. the shaft of a spear, lance, etc.

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adjective

1. of or relating to a military or organizational staff.

   a staff officer; staff meetings.

2. (of a professional person) employed on the staff of a corporation, publication, institution, or the like rather than being self-employed or practicing privately.

   a staff writer; staff physicians at the hospital.

verb (used with object)

• staffs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• staffed,
  past participle,  past
• staffing
  present participle

1. to provide with a staff of assistants or workers.

   She staffed her office with excellent secretaries.

2. to serve on the staff of.

3. to send to a staff for study or further work (often followed byout ).

   The White House will staff out the recommendations before making a decision.

verb (used without object)

• staffs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• staffed,
  past participle,  past
• staffing
  present participle

1. to hire employees, as for a new office or project (sometimes followed byup ).

   Next month we'll begin staffing up for the reelection campaign.

staff ² American  

[staf, stahf] / stæf, stɑf /

noun

1. a composition of plaster and fibrous material used for a temporary finish and in ornamental work, as on exposition buildings.

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staff ¹ British  

/ stɑːf /

noun

1. a group of people employed by a company, individual, etc, for executive, clerical, sales work, etc

2. (modifier) attached to or provided for the staff of an establishment

   a staff doctor

3. the body of teachers or lecturers of an educational institution, as distinct from the students

4. the officers appointed to assist a commander, service, or central headquarters organization in establishing policy, plans, etc

5. a stick with some special use, such as a walking stick or an emblem of authority

6. something that sustains or supports

   bread is the staff of life

7. a pole on which a flag is hung

8. Usual US name: rod.  a graduated rod used in surveying, esp for sighting to with a levelling instrument

9. Also called: stave.  music

   1. the system of horizontal lines grouped into sets of five (four in the case of plainsong) upon which music is written. The spaces between them are also used, being employed in conjunction with a clef in order to give a graphic indication of pitch

   2. any set of five lines in this system together with its clef

      the treble staff

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verb

1. (tr) to provide with a staff

staff ² British  

/ stɑːf /

noun

1. a mixture of plaster and hair used to cover the external surface of temporary structures and for decoration

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Grammar

See collective noun.

Usage

Plural word for staff The plural form of staff is staffs. For some meanings of the word staff, staves, pronounced [ steyvz ] is also an acceptable plural form. However, it is easier to use the plural form staffs, which is valid for all meanings of the word staff. The plural of several other words that end in -f are also formed this way, including playoff/playoffs, cliff/cliffs, and roof/roofs. In some instances, words that end in -f are made plural by changing the ending to -ves, as in half/halves or leaf/leaves, which derives directly from their original pluralization in Old English. This is the plural form we see in staff/staves.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• staffless
  adjective
• unstaffed
  adjective
• well-staffed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• staffs
  plural
• staves
  plural

Participles

• staffing
  present
• staffed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• staff
  simple
• staffs
  simple
• have staffed
  perfect
• has staffed
  perfect
• am staffing
  progressive
• are staffing
  progressive
• is staffing
  progressive
• have been staffing
  perfect progressive
• has been staffing
  perfect progressive

Past

• staffed
  simple
• had staffed
  perfect
• was staffing
  progressive
• were staffing
  progressive
• had been staffing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will staff
  simple
• will have staffed
  perfect
• will be staffing
  progressive
• will have been staffing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of staff¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun staf(fe), stafte, Old English stæf, stæb; cognate with Dutch staf, German Stab, Old Norse stafr staff, Sanskrit root stabh- “support”

Origin of staff²

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95; of obscure origin; perhaps from German Stoff stuff

Explanation

Staff means everyone who works at a particular place. You might suspect that the town library's not a very fun place to work if its staff is always incredibly cranky every time you visit. Staff refers to all of the employees at a business, or especially a school, where the teachers as a group are called "the staff." A completely different meaning of staff is a long wooden stick or rod, particularly one that has a specific purpose — like a walking stick or a weapon. This is the original meaning of staff, from the Old English stæf. It wasn't until the nineteenth century that the word staff was used to mean "group of employees."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

staff staffs staves staffed staffing

Most of its staff later went into exile, including to Russia and Israel.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

Volkswagen's CEO warned Sunday the company was in a "more than critical" state ahead of meetings with the car giant's staff where he will defend the company's savings plans.

From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026

The city of Arcadia wrote in a public statement after she resigned that “no city finances, staff or decision-making processes were involved” in the charges against her.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

The family are now urging parents to consider organ donation should they lose a child and thanked the hospital staff and others who have supported them.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

There are cliques, disgruntled staff, and the unmistakable scent of anxiety.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

Player salaries are capped, but ownership’s resources matter much in terms of creating a competitive infrastructure of coaches, basketball operations, medical and scouting staffs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Allen’s shows are significantly less expensive to produce than the traditional sofa-and-desk format for a major TV network, which have traditionally used high-priced hosts, live bands and substantial writing staffs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 6, 2026

He helps decide who staffs agencies, what gets funded, which direction the country points in when it comes to research.

From Slate ● Jan. 20, 2026

But small businesses, which had cut roles on net in November, grew their staffs last month, putting private-sector jobs in positive territory overall, she said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 2026

One after another, the guards on the west side of the bridge lowered their staffs.

From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat

For many Americans taking a weight-loss drug, Thanksgiving presents a conundrum: Take the weekly dose that staves off hunger, or push it off so they can feast?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025

"In our model, the barrel staves spread out in steps," he says, "each step representing a new limiting factor that becomes active as the cell grows faster."

From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2025

France's Emmanuel Macron was on Friday due to pick a head of government tasked with pulling the country out of a political gridlock, in a move that staves off fresh elections for now.

From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2025

However, that only staves off the pressure for a moment as the kick fails to make touch and Ireland are on the front foot again.

From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2024

Bran watched them from the balcony of Maester Luwin's turret, listening to them grunt and strain and curse as they swung their staves and wooden swords.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

Many communities, though, are served by water facilities staffed by only three people.

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026

Inside, OpenAI employees staffed booths offering information about the planned data center.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

Authorities and experts agree that the Forest City operations were probably staffed by criminals who had been driven out of Cambodia, a global nerve centre for transnational scams.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

The Defense Department has an office staffed with bankers and other specialists dedicated to funneling the money to the right projects.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Soon they began building Muslim-style sugar plantations on the islands, some of them staffed by slaves purchased from nearby Africa.

From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson

“This was trying to speed up that staffing faster than the departmental process normally takes in this city.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026

The requests for more staffing and funding are unlikely to be successful, analysts said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026

Six spoke of staffing shortages, and four said they felt unsafe working there.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

She said she plans to reach out to staffing agencies and use platforms like Indeed to recruit new workers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

I attempted to convey to her what a genial employer Mr Farraday is; and I described the changes to the house itself, the alterations and the dust- sheetings, as well as the present staffing arrangements.

From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Related Words

• cadre
• crew
• faculty
• force
• organization
• personnel
• team
• work force