How to use stay in a sentence
40 example sentences · verb, noun, particle
Stay means to remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide. Example: “We stayed in Hawaii for a week. I can only stay for an hour.”
Examples of stay by meaning
verbTo remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide.
- We stayed in Hawaii for a week. I can only stay for an hour.
- “Well,” I says, “I cal'late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough.” ¶ She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
verbTo continue to have a particular quality.
- Wear gloves so your hands stay warm.
- The three men in the room stayed motionless, holding their breaths.1943, Graham Greene, The Ministry of Fear, London: Heinemann, published 1960, Book 3, Chapter 2, p. 210
verbTo stop; detain; keep back; delay; hinder.
- She rose to leave but Libor stayed her.2010, Howard Jacobson, chapter 9, in The Finkler Question, New York: Bloomsbury
verbTo put off; defer; postpone; delay; keep back.
- The governor stayed the execution until the appeal could be heard.
- Without one word to deny himself, Yuan let himself be bound, his hands behind his back, and no one could stay the matter.1935, Pearl S. Buck, A House Divided, London: Methuen, Part 1, p. 137
verbTo come to an end; cease.
- That day the storm stayed.
verbTo hold out, as in a race or contest; last or persevere to the end; to show staying power.
- That horse stays well.
verbTo wait; rest in patience or expectation.
- Stay—in the paper you have, look down the first money column and see if there is any reference to the Central and Suburban."1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados
verbTo live; reside.
- Hey, where do you stay at?
More sentences with stay
- I like to stay informed about current events by reading the newspaper daily.From the entry current events
- I asked her to stay in with me, but she would go out.From the entry would
- I had to stay with my wicked stepmother, for I had nowhere else to go.From the entry for
- You have a temperature. I think you should stay home today. You’re sick.From the entry temperature
- I'd rather MoM (did) not stay, cuz the best thing about a holiday is not working.From the entry not
- No matter how long I stay out in the sun, I never tan, though I do burn.From the entry tan
- A sidewalk preacher gave an impassioned sermon while an assistant leafleted those who stayed to listen.From the entry leaflet
- We were friends with some girls from the other school and stayed friends with them.From the entry friend
- My brother, who you met the other day, is coming to stay for the weekend.From the entry who
- If the government wants graduates to stay in the country, they should offer more incentives.From the entry graduate
- Hotels that are so priced that only people of means can stay.From the entry means
- He skirted the issue of which parties to attend by staying at home instead.From the entry skirt
- If we stay on this course we should clear the buoy.From the entry clear
- To prevent any shooting accidents, remember to clear your pistol and stay aware of your surroundings.From the entry clear
- I seldom stay long after class, but yesterday I spent the evening and long into the night.From the entry long
- He stirred his coffee so the sugar wouldn't stay at the bottom.From the entry stir
- I've been explicitly forbidden to leave and therefore must stay longer.From the entry therefore
- I need my privacy, so please stay out of my room.From the entry privacy
- He procrastinated until the last minute and had to stay up all night to finish.From the entry procrastinate
- All the little amenities the hotel provided made our stay very enjoyable.From the entry amenities
- The secretive residents of the massive city-ship tended to stay inside.From the entry inside
- Those two are beefing right now — best you stay out of it.From the entry beef
- After working hard all week, I decided to stay home and veg on Saturday.From the entry veg
- He's got a virus and had to stay home from school.From the entry virus
- It's fine with me if you stay out late, so long as you're back by three.From the entry fine
- No matter how anyone might savage me, I should stay strong.From the entry savage
- He used to stay up late but his new girlfriend changed that around.From the entry around
- Scientists debunk the myth that gum stays in the human stomach for seven years.From the entry myth
- He should stay off the dance floor with his two left feet.From the entry two left feet
Meaning of stay
- verb To remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide.
- verb To continue to have a particular quality.
- verb To prop; support; sustain; hold up; steady.
Questions about stay in a sentence
- How do you use stay in a sentence?
- Stay is used as a verb, noun and particle. For example: “We stayed in Hawaii for a week. I can only stay for an hour.”
- What is a short sentence with stay?
- “That horse stays well.”
- What does stay mean?
- Stay means to remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stay (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use stay in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/stay. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.