Word.ws English Dictionary

steads

steads is the plural of stead.

steads is the third-person singular simple present indicative of stead.

Meaning of stead

Noun

stead (plural steads)

  1. The position or function (of someone or something), as taken on by a successor.
    • She was so wretched and so vehement, complained so much of injustice in being expected to go away instead of Anne; Anne, who was nothing to Louisa, while she was her sister, and had the best right to stay in Henrietta's stead!1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=III or IV), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as...
  2. (figuratively) A place as it relates to a role, service, or ability; capacity.
    • One may not expect to entirely stop the oncoming energy but the outgoing stands in a different stead, for in this a certain amount of ruling is possible by the native.1902, Alvidas, Science and Key of Life: Planetary Influences, volume 1
  3. (figuratively, uncountable) A relational or circumstantial position; standing.
    • Though small and delicate-looking, she gave an impression of intense earnestness and latent toughness, qualities that stood her in good stead when she dared to challenge the most intrusive communist society in eastern Europe.2010 September 19, Dan van der Vat, The Guardian
  4. (countable, figuratively) A place as it relates to situation, circumstance, or status; condition.
    • Anthropology in India started in a different stead than what was the situation of its emergence in other countries.1969, Proceedings of the Indian Science Congress
  5. (archaic, literary) A place, or spot, in general; location.
    • For he ne wonneth in one certaine stead, / But restlesse walketh all the world around[…].1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
  6. (obsolete) A place where a person normally rests; a seat.
    • There now the hart, fearlesse of greyhound, feeds, / And loving pelican in safety breeds; / There shrieking satyres fill the people's emptie steads.1633, P. Fletcher, Purple Island

See all 14 meanings of stead

Proper noun capitalized: Steads

Steads

  1. (plural) plural of Stead

Phrases with steads

Questions about steads

What is steads the plural of?
Steads is the plural of stead.
What part of speech is steads?
Steads is a proper noun.

Words near steads in the dictionary

  1. steadinesses
  2. steading
  3. steadings
  4. Steadman
  5. Steadmans
  6. steads
  7. steady
  8. steady as a rock
  9. steady as she goes
  10. Steady Brook
  11. Steady Eddie

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: steads (page history and authors); Steads (page history and authors); stead (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-steads.wav.

Cite this entry: “steads.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/steads. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.