staid

[ steyd ]

adjective

1. of settled or sedate character; not flighty or capricious.

   Synonyms: solemn, decorous, serious, proper

   Antonyms: frivolous, wild

2. fixed, settled, or permanent.

verb

1. Archaic. a simple past tense and past participle of stay ¹.

staid

/ steɪd /

adjective

1. of a settled, sedate, and steady character
2. rare.
   permanent

Derived Forms

• ˈstaidly, adverb
• ˈstaidness, noun

Other Words From

• staidly adverb
• staidness noun
• un·staid adjective
• un·staidly adverb
• un·staidness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of staid¹

First recorded in 1535–45 for adjective use

Word History and Origins

Origin of staid¹

C16: obsolete past participle of stay ¹

Synonym Study

Staid, sedate, settled indicate a sober and composed type of conduct. Staid indicates an ingrained seriousness and propriety that shows itself in complete decorum; a colorless kind of correctness is indicated: a staid and uninteresting family. Sedate applies to one who is noticeably quiet, composed, and sober in conduct: a sedate and dignified young man. One who is settled has become fixed, especially in a sober or determined way, in manner, judgments, or mode of life: He is young to be so settled in his ways.

Example Sentences

At the beginning of the war, Alathea was sent from London to live with her rather staid grandfather Lord Fitzalan and maiden Aunt Magdalen at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park, her mother visiting rarely.

From Time

As she chronicles, she held deep insecurities about her own place in her husband’s political orbit, Washington’s staid protocols and the Navy hierarchy.

From Time

He has vowed to eschew many of the ceremony’s staid traditions and make the broadcast look like an actual movie.

From Quartz

Mondale’s young age established his ties to the “new politics,” but his staid style placed him in the realm of the old.

From Washington Post

Most political memoirs these days are staid, buttoned-down affairs, written with an eye on a higher office or a place in history.

From Washington Post

The superhero medium is so staid that temporary exposure to a black lead is considered groundbreaking.

From The Daily Beast

New entryway plans look more Rodeo Drive than staid tropical hideaway.

From The Daily Beast

The staid old NFL soon faced competition from the upstart AFL, which, of course, put a team in New York.

From The Daily Beast

But for all its madcap zaniness, Woke Up Lonely easily refutes the idea that the novel is a staid, obsolete form of writing.

From The Daily Beast

That's right, I said it: this is a landmark victory for the forces of staid, bourgeois sexual morality.

From The Daily Beast

Lucy clapped her hands with delight, her more staid cousin was rapt in pleased astonishment.

From Project Gutenberg

After that the little girl staid mostly with the stewardess, and was comparatively happy.

From Project Gutenberg

How long they would have staid is uncertain if there had not come a second knock at the kitchen door.

From Project Gutenberg

My wife not very well went home, I staid late there seeing them play at cards, and so home to bed.

From Project Gutenberg

So home, calling in at my father's, but staid not, my father and mother being both forth.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• decorous
• dignified
• sedate
• sober
• solemn
• somber
• stuffy