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.
I stood there with my bag, the line of passengers stacking up behind me.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 10, 2026
The major stock indexes surged on Monday, retracing last week’s wild swings to close just above where they stood a week ago—when the election’s votes weren’t yet counted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2026
The toll had stood at 35 on Sunday evening, but Louga regional Governor Ndeye Nguenar Mbodj increased the figure by four on Monday morning.
From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2026
Only two days ago, Alcaraz stood on the brink of a quarter-final loss to Taylor Fritz but saved two match points to pull off a comeback victory.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2026
Betsie always stood in the doorway of ours waiting for me; each evening it was as though a week had passed, there was so much to tell one another.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
