stood
Americanverb
verb
Usage
What is a basic definition of stood? Stood is the past tense and past participle of the verb stand. Stood can mean to be positioned upright (in the past), to not move or budge (in the past), or to believe in something (in the past). Stood, like stand, has many other senses as a verb. As the past tense of stand, stood is used in many of the same idioms. If someone stood somewhere, it means they were in an upright position at that location and not sitting or lying down. If an object stood somewhere, it was located there and hadn’t yet collapsed, fell down, or been moved somewhere else.
- Real-life examples: The Colossus of Rhodes stood at a Greek harbor before collapsing during an earthquake. Archaeologists may find evidence of a building that once stood somewhere in the past but has since been destroyed.
- Used in a sentence: I stood by the door and waited for the mailman.
- Used in a sentence: Larry slowly stood up out of his chair to greet his son.
- Used in a sentence: I swear that the King Kong statue stood over 100 feet tall!
- Used in a sentence: I stood firm against the volley of snowballs.
- Used in a sentence: I try to live up to my mother’s legacy and follow the values she stood for.
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.
Recently, in the r/workingmoms Subreddit, one poster wondered if she stood alone as an elder millennial who doesn’t have a reverential nostalgia for childhood summers.
From Salon • Jun. 24, 2026
The national average stood at $3.928 per gallon on Wednesday, down from $4.515 a month ago, according to the American Automobile Association, or AAA.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 24, 2026
One viral protein, known as OrfB9, stood out as particularly important.
From Science Daily • Jun. 24, 2026
The mom of two then climbed upstairs herself to keep a beady eye on both children as they stood on the balcony and surveyed the grounds around them.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 24, 2026
The tree line stood sentinel in front of a long-forgotten wooden fence.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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.
