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• stead
  stead

  noun

  the place of a person or thing as occupied by a successor or substitute.
• Stead
  Stead

  noun

  Christina ( Ellen ). 1902–83, Australian novelist. Her works include Seven Poor Men of Sydney (1934), The Man who Loved Children (1940), and Cotters' England (1966)

stead

American  

[sted] / stɛd /

noun

1. the place of a person or thing as occupied by a successor or substitute.

   The nephew of the queen came in her stead.

2. Obsolete. a place or locality.

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verb (used with object)

1. to be of service, advantage, or avail to.

idioms

1. stand in good stead, to be useful to, especially in a critical situation.

   Your experience will stand you in good stead.

stead ¹ British  

/ stɛd /

noun

1. rare (preceded by in) the place, function, or position that should be taken by another

   to come in someone's stead

2. to be useful or of good service to (someone)

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verb

1. archaic (tr) to help or benefit

Stead ² British  

/ stɛd /

noun

1. Christina ( Ellen ). 1902–83, Australian novelist. Her works include Seven Poor Men of Sydney (1934), The Man who Loved Children (1940), and Cotters' England (1966)

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stead More Idioms  

1. see in someone's shoes (stead); stand in good stead. Also see under instead.

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Etymology

Origin of stead

before 900; (noun) Middle English, Old English stede; cognate with German Stätte place; akin to German Stadt, Old Norse stathr, Gothic staths, Greek stásis ( see stasis); (v.) Middle English steden, derivative of the noun

Explanation

Someone's stead is their position, or occupation. The eager understudy to starring role leapt at the chance to serve in the lead actor's stead when he mysteriously got food poisoning. Stead comes from the Germanic root for "place, town," but we usually use it for a person's place, and most frequently when someone is serving as a substitute. If you serve in someone's stead, you're doing their job for them while they're not there. You probably intuitively know this word from the more common instead, which is just a shortening for "in the stead of."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stead Stead

Bruce Broussard, a member of the company’s board of directors since 2021, has been acting as interim CEO in his stead.

From Barron's ● May 27, 2026

Some of them were dead, and their families answered the questionnaires about past glyphosate exposure in their stead.

From Slate ● Mar. 5, 2026

Another man shouted on the phone, exhorting a family member to leave and that he would go in and take his stead.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2026

"I, despite not being a councillor, have continued to do lots of work within the area and I think that stood me in very good stead," Barnes said.

From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026

His sisters were gone to Morton in my stead: I sat reading Schiller; he, deciphering his crabbed Oriental scrolls.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Coaches Martin Drury and Jon Stead took over until the close of the campaign, as Huddersfield finished ninth.

From BBC ● May 11, 2026

Neal Stead and his wife Tara both work in administration – Neal in a contact centre, and Tara at a hospital.

From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2025

But Michelle Stead thinks it sets the "perfect tone for any aesthetic beauty or wellbeing treatment".

From BBC ● May 27, 2025

Noah Stead hit a three-run home run with one out in the bottom of the seventh on March 28 for a 4-1 win over Newbury Park.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025

The name Stead was well known in America because of Herbert’s more famous brother, William, the former editor of London’s Pall Mall Gazette and recent founder of The Review of Reviews.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson