stanch

¹ American  

[stawnch, stanch, stahnch] / stɔntʃ, stæntʃ, stɑntʃ /

Also staunch

verb (used with object)

1. to stop the flow of (a liquid, especially blood).

2. to stop the flow of blood or other liquid from (a wound, leak, etc.).

3. Archaic. to check, allay, or extinguish.

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verb (used without object)

1. to stop flowing, as blood; be stanched.

noun

1. Also called navigation weir, flash-lock. a lock that, after being partially emptied, is opened suddenly to send a boat over a shallow place with a rush of water.

stanch ² American  

[stawnch, stahnch, stanch] / stɔntʃ, stɑntʃ, stæntʃ /

adjective

stancher, stanchest

1. staunch.

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stanch British  

/ stɑːntʃ, stɔːntʃ /

verb

1. to stem the flow of (a liquid, esp blood) or (of a liquid) to stop flowing

2. to prevent the flow of a liquid, esp blood, from (a hole, wound, etc)

3. an archaic word for assuage

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noun

1. a primitive form of lock in which boats are carried over shallow parts of a river in a rush of water released by the lock

Other Word Forms

• stancher
  noun
• stanchness
  noun
• stanchable
  adjective
• unstanchable
  adjective
• stanchly
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of stanch

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English stanchen, staunchen (verb) < Old French estanchier “to close, stop, slake (thirst),” from Vulgar Latin stanticāre (unattested), equivalent to Latin stant- (stem of stāns, present participle of stāre to stand ) + -icāre causative suffix

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Explanation

Use the verb stanch to describe stopping a liquid from spreading. A bandage can stanch bleeding and thick towels can stanch the flow of water across the kitchen floor when you drop a full glass of water. The vowel sound in stanch most frequently sounds like on: "stonch." Stanch can also be pronounced to rhyme with branch. Though it's a verb mostly commonly associated with keeping blood from flowing from a wound, the origin is likely the Latin word stagnum, meaning "pond, pool." This word is related to stagnate, describing water that has no movement.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stanch stancher stanchest

Such denials have failed to stanch the concerns of shoppers and consumer activists, Sarah Nassauer reports.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026

But the deregulation they won did little to stanch the bleeding.

From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026

The sale could help stanch losses from last year’s box-office flop “Megalopolis,” which cost over $120 million to make and was largely financed by the 86-year-old director.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2025

Parentez said Martinez drove herself to a nearby auto shop, where employees used shop towels to stanch her wounds until paramedics arrived.

From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2025

The young dog nosed his friend all over, his lips wrinkling at the rank bear smell, then attempted to stanch the wounds with his rough tongue.

From "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford

"An' she's stancher--a wonderful lot stancher," continued the other.

From The Gaunt Gray Wolf A Tale of Adventure With Ungava Bob by Dillon Wallace

There's not a stancher, closer-mouthed creature in existence than Bear.

From Nobody's Child by Elizabeth Dejeans

The Hardages also—of course you have no stancher friends than they are—have stood up stubbornly for Rowan.

From The Mettle of the Pasture by James Lane Allen

He saw his son Kit more than once or twice in those days, and Kit appeared to be the stancher patriot of the two.

From The Landleaguers by Anthony Trollope

Through all of his hilarious experiences at Fardale, Frank had not a stancher adherent.

From Frank Merriwell's Reward by Burt L. Standish

Father Andreus Hlinka, 73, venerated chief of the Slovak Catholic People's Party, stanchest pre-and post-War lighter for political recognition and independence of Slovaks in Czechoslovakia; at Ruzomberok.

From Time Magazine Archive

When Quanah sang his deep-throated lament over her body, even the stanchest cowhands in the audience had to blow their noses.

From Time Magazine Archive

Soon afterward the two men met, and ever since Carter Glass and Jesse Jones have been the stanchest of friends, the warmest of mutual admirers.

From Time Magazine Archive

This did him no harm with the thousands of Texas Mexicans who are now his stanchest supporters.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Convention trust him, the sans-culottes are afraid of him, and the few men of family whom the guillotine has left look up to him as one of their stanchest adherents.

From Maurice Tiernay Soldier of Fortune by Charles James Lever

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