stance
UK/stæns/US[stɛəns]
stance noun: the manner, pose, or posture in which one stands.
Noun
stance (plural stances)
- The manner, pose, or posture in which one stands.
- The fencer’s stance showed he was ready to begin.
- Stance and gait are best examined with the patient barefoot; meaningful findings can be obtained only if the patient has enough room to walk in. The testing of stance and gait often provides important clues to the type of disease process that is present.2006, Mark Mumenthaler, Heinrich Mattle, “The Neurological Examination”, in Ethan Taub, transl., Fundamentals of Neurology: An Illustrated Guide, Stuttgart; New York, N.Y.: Georg Thieme Verlag...
- One's opinion or point of view.
- I don’t agree with your stance on gun control.
- His [François Hollande's] stance as being against the world of finance and his proposal of a 75% tax on incomes over €1m (£817,000) was approved by a majority in polls. He was convinced that his more measured, if ploddingly serious, style would win out with an electorate tired of [Nicolas]...2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 15 Sep 2017
- A place to stand; a position, a site, a station.
- No! sooner may the Saxon lance / Unfix Benledi from his stance, / Than doubt or terror can pierce through / The unyielding heart of Robert Dhu; […]1810, Walter Scott, “Canto IV. The Prophecy.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William...
- The British host had stood / That morn 'gainst charge of sword and lance / As their own ocean-rocks hold stance, / But when thy voice had said, "Advance!" / They were their ocean's flood.— […]1815, Walter Scott, The Field of Waterloo; a Poem, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne & Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, and John Murray, →OCLC...
- A foothold or ledge on which to set up a belay.
- 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.2004, Mark Houston, Kathy Cosley, “Snow and Ice”, in Alpine Climbing: Techniques to Take You Higher, Seattle, Wash.: The Mountaineers Books, →ISBN, page 225, column 2
- There is always the option of clambering up slightly higher and building a new belay station (stance), take in the rope for a fellow climber, once again clamber up higher and once again build a new, higher stance … and so on until the rope reaches the stop where the upper end of the rope has become...2014 July 18, Thomas Kublak, “Problems when Rappelling”, in Mountaineering Methodology: Part III: Belaying and Rappelling, [s.l.]: Tomas Kublak, MMPublishing, →ISBN, page 180, column 2
- A place for buses or taxis to await passengers; a bus stop, a taxi rank.
- The number of Carriages at each of the Stances or divisions of Stances, and the spaces to be occupied, shall be fixed from time to time as may be found necessary. In the event of any New Stance being appointed during the currency of these Regulations, if said Stance shall be within half a mile of...1867, “Stances”, in Bye-laws for the Hackney Carriages of Edinburgh, Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne & Company, →OCLC, pages 11–12
- Synonyms:
- stand
- A place where a fair or market is held; a location where a street trader can carry on business.
- To the action by the proprietor of a tenement in burgh against the proprietor of the adjoining stance to recover one-half the cost of a mutual gable, of which the defender had taken the use, it was pleaded in defence (1) that the mutual gable having been erected by the common author of the parties...1877 June 15, reported by Middleton Rettie [et al.], “Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Respondents (Pursuers).—R. V. Campbell. Rev. Alexander Wylie and Others (Trustees of Bath Street Baptist Church...
- Synonyms:
- stand
- A stanza.
- Other Muſique, and voyces; and this ſecond Stance was ſung, directing their obſeruance to the King. […] This ended the Phœbades ſung the third Stance.[1613], Geo[rge] Chapman, The Memorable Maske of the Two Honorable Houses or Innes of Court; the Middle Temple, and Lyncolns Inne. […], London: […] G[eorge] Eld for George Norton […], →OCLC...
Verb
stance (third-person singular simple present stances, present participle stancing, simple past and past participle stanced)
- To place, to position, to station; (specifically) to put (cattle) into an enclosure or pen in preparation for sale.
- Rob Roy ſtood watch / On a hill for to catch / The booty for ought that I ſa', man, / For he ne'er advanced, / From the place he was ſtanc'd, / 'Till no more to do there at a' man, […]1776, “Sheriff-Muir”, in [David Herd], editor, Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc. […] In Two Volumes, 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: Printed by John Wotherspoon, for James...
stance meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
stance in Hindi
- a stance
- ठाठ ṭhāṭh
stance in Tamil
- நிலைப்பாடு, கண்ணோட்டம், நிற்பு
stance in Urdu
- حالت, وضع
stance in Bengali
- অবস্থান, ভঙ্গি, মনোভাব
More languagesFewer languages
- stance in Malayalam
- പക്ഷം pakṣaṁ
- stance in Kannada
- ವರಸೆ varase
- stance in Arabic
- مَوْقِف mawqif
- stance in Thai
- จุดยืน jùt-yʉʉn
- stance in Vietnamese
- quan điểm
Examples of stance in a sentence
- His [François Hollande's] stance as being against the world of finance and his proposal of a 75% tax on incomes over €1m (£817,000) was approved by a majority in polls.2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in The Guardian...
- The number of Carriages at each of the Stances or divisions of Stances, and the spaces to be occupied, shall be fixed from time to time as may be found necessary.1867, “Stances”, in Bye-laws for the Hackney Carriages of Edinburgh, Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne & Company, →OCLC, pages 11–12:
Synonyms of stance
Forms of stance
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | stances |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | stances |
| present participle | stancing |
| past participle | stanced |
| past | stanced |
Origin of stance
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. The verb is derived from the noun. Compare typologically Czech postoj (“stance (the way of holding a body); stance (point of view)”) (cognate via PIE). Also see position, posture.
Words formed from stance
Words that rhyme with stance
3 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about stance
- What does stance mean?
- Stance means the manner, pose, or posture in which one stands.
- What is stance in Hindi?
- Stance in Hindi is ठाठ (ṭhāṭh). See Stance meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use stance in a sentence?
- His [François Hollande's] stance as being against the world of finance and his proposal of a 75% tax on incomes over €1m (£817,000) was approved by a majority in polls.
- What part of speech is stance?
- Stance can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce stance?
- Stance is pronounced /stæns/ (UK).
- What is the plural of stance?
- The plural of stance is stances.
Words near stance in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stance (page history and authors); ठाठ (Hindi) (page history and authors); stance (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stance (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stance (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); പക്ഷം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ವರಸೆ (Kannada) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “stance.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stance. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.