stance
Forms
- Plural
- stances
- present (v1)
- stance
- past (v2)
- stanced
- past participle (v3)
- stanced
- present participle
- stancing
- 3rd person singular
- stances
Definitions
1.The manner, pose, or posture in which one stands.
- The fencer’s stance showed he was ready to begin.
2.One's opinion or point of view.
- I don’t agree with your stance on gun control.
3.A place to stand; a position, a site, a station.
- In a harness belay, the stance itself is the belayer's first line of defense, reducing the load the anchor must hold. The anchor in this case serves as little more than a backup (albeit a critical one) to the stance.
4.A place for buses or taxis to await passengers; a bus stop, a taxi rank.
1.To place, to position, to station; (specifically) to put (cattle) into an enclosure or pen in preparation for sale.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4520
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English staunce (“place to stand; battle station; position; standing in society; circumstance, situation; stanchion”), from Old French estance (“predicament; situation; sojourn, stay”) (compare modern French stance (“stanza; position one stands in when golfing”)), from Italian stanza (“room, standing place; stanza”), from Vulgar Latin *stantia, from Latin stō (“to stand; to remain, stay”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”). The word is cognate with Spanish estante (“shelf”) and a doublet of stanza.