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stood

American  
[stood] / stʊd /

verb

  1. the simple past tense and past participle of stand.

stood British  
/ stʊd /

verb

  1. the past tense and past participle of stand

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
stood Idioms  

  1. see should have stood in bed.

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. 
Stood can also mean that someone or an animal rose from a sitting, lying, or squatting position. This sense is often followed by up.
  • Used in a sentence: Larry slowly stood up out of his chair to greet his son.  
In a similar sense, stood can be used to mean that something was a certain height if positioned fully upright.
  • Used in a sentence: I swear that the King Kong statue stood over 100 feet tall! 
Stood can also mean to have not moved or given any ground.
  • Used in a sentence: I stood firm against the volley of snowballs. 
Stood can also mean to believe in something. This sense is often followed by the word for.
  • 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.

Sobie and her children now sleep on the narrow broken platform where their house stood until a few weeks ago on Lagos Lagoon.

From BBC

Once told by doctors that a lupus diagnosis could limit her ability to do so, Braxton stood onstage, still moving freely and hitting every note.

From Los Angeles Times

In public statements, Palantir has stood by its work for ICE.

From The Wall Street Journal

On the afternoon of the first blast from Mount St. Helens, Johnston stood in a clearing near the forest with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

From Literature

What stood out in this study was the unusual way the cells reacted under stress.

From Science Daily

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.