Word.ws English Dictionary

sted

sted is the obsolete form of stead.

sted is the abbreviation of instead of.

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

Meaning of instead of

Preposition

instead of

  1. In lieu of; in place of; rather than.
    • He walked to school instead of taking the car.

Noun capitalized: STED

STED (plural STEDs)

  1. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of stimulated emission depletion microscope.

Verb capitalized: STed

STed

  1. (participle, past) simple past and past participle of ST

Forms of sted

pluralsteds
alternative formstedd
pluralSTEDs

Origin of sted

From Middle English sted, from Old English stede (“place, spot, locality”).

Questions about sted

What is sted the obsolete form of?
Sted is the obsolete form of stead.
What part of speech is sted?
Sted can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of sted?
The plural of sted is steds.

Words near sted in the dictionary

  1. Steckleins
  2. Steckler
  3. Stecklers
  4. stecks
  5. Stecs
  6. sted
  7. stedd
  8. stedde
  9. steddes
  10. steddied
  11. steddies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sted (page history and authors); STED (page history and authors); STed (page history and authors); stead (page history and authors); instead of (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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Cite this entry: “sted.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sted. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.