Word.ws English Dictionary

stet

/stɛt/

stet noun: a symbol used by proofreaders and typesetters to indicate that a word or phrase that was crossed out or changed should remain as it was.

Noun

stet (plural stets)

  1. A symbol used by proofreaders and typesetters to indicate that a word or phrase that was crossed out or changed should remain as it was.
    • I believe the word "stet" is unnecessary and confusing; that it is used only on the margin when something has has been crossed off in the body of the text and is also used only with the dots (the stet marks ........) placed under the words in the body of the matter to be stetted—or to let stand as...1914, “The Use of "Stet" in Proof Correction”, in Printing Trade News, From the Mail Sack, page 21
    • But a typographer in far-off Australia would instantly comprehend the carets, "stets," and "deles" of a Brooklyn proof-reader.1955, John Ball, Cecil Brown Williams, Report Writing, page 225
  2. (especially) An order staying all proceedings in an action.
    • ("To be eligible for a stet, the defendant must waive his right to a speedy trial.") (stating that when a prosecutor "stets" a case, the state is declining to prosecute it2013, CT Harrington, “Breaking the cycle and stepping out of the revolving door: Why the pre-adjudication model is the way forward for Illinois Mental Health Courts”, in Univ. Illinois Law Review
    • In this jurisdiction, the system has some special procedures. A stet is an inactive court docket whereby a case is held inactive for up to one year.1999 February, FAYE S. TAXMAN and LORI ELIS, “Expediting Court Dispositions: Quick Results, Uncertain Outcomes”, in Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, volume 36, number 1

Verb

stet (third-person singular simple present stets, present participle stetting, simple past and past participle stetted)

  1. (transitive) To let (edited material) stand, or remain as it was.
    • Stet that colon.
    • To stet in the fifth line these words , "Any minister of the Church of England or"1890, North Carolina, William Laurence Saunders, The Colonial Records of North Carolina, volume 7, page 329
  2. (especially Maryland) To stay all proceedings in an action.
    • I respectfully submit the following statement in accordance with the order of the Convention:MAY TERM, 1864. / Indictments found....18 / Convicted....12 / Acquitted....5 / Stetted....21867, Maryland. Constitutional Convention, Proceedings of the State Convention of Maryland, page 64
    • A protest has been set up by the Maryland Board of Pharmacy against the action of the state's attorney in stetting three indictments against M. A. Potocki, of Baltimore, who was on trial on five charges of violating the medical practice act1914, The Journal of the National Association of Retail Druggists, page 232

stet meaning in Tamil

stet in Tamil

முன்போல் நிற்க

Examples of stet in a sentence

  • By "editor" I suppose you mean proofreader. [...] I have also come across a few pompous avuncular brutes who would attempt to "make suggestions" which I countered with a thunderous "stet!"1967, Herbert Gold, quoting Vladimir Nabokov, “Vladimir Nabokov, The Art of Fiction No. 40”, in Paris Review, number 41:
  • But I see the words as very different, and have issued a big STET on that one.2005, Douglas Rushkoff, "Commodified vs. Commoditized", 2005-09-04
  • Moreover it was unanously resolved to place a resolution on the A.D.M. agenda asking for the stetting of the recommendation that was deleted at Newport last year.1934, The Journalist, volumes 17-19, page 39:
  • Appellant contends that the indictment, having been stetted [in Maryland], it is no longer in force and effect (Applt.'s Brief, Point IV).c. 1924, John E. McGeehan, “Thomas Wells Cole v. Richard E. Enright”, in Supreme Court, State of New York, Appellate Division—First...

Forms of stet

Noun
pluralstets
Verb
third-person singular presentstets
present participlestetting
past participlestetted
paststetted

Origin of stet

Borrowed from Latin stet (“let it stand”), an inflection of stō (“to stand”).

Phrases with stet

Words that rhyme with stet

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about stet

What does stet mean?
Stet means a symbol used by proofreaders and typesetters to indicate that a word or phrase that was crossed out or changed should remain as it was.
What is stet in Tamil?
Stet in Tamil is முன்போல் நிற்க. See Stet meaning in Tamil.
How do you use stet in a sentence?
By "editor" I suppose you mean proofreader. [...] I have also come across a few pompous avuncular brutes who would attempt to "make suggestions" which I countered with a thunderous "stet!"
What part of speech is stet?
Stet can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce stet?
Stet is pronounced /stɛt/.
What is the plural of stet?
The plural of stet is stets.

Words near stet in the dictionary

  1. sterving
  2. steryl
  3. Stesichoran
  4. Stesichorean
  5. Stesichorus
  6. stet
  7. stet docket
  8. stet dockets
  9. Stetefeldt furnace
  10. Stetefeldt furnaces
  11. stetefeldtite

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stet (page history and authors); stet (Tamil Wiktionary) (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:

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

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