Word.ws English Dictionary

sticks

UK/stɪks/

sticks is the plural of stick.

sticks is the third-person singular simple present indicative of stick.

Noun (1)

sticks pl (plural only)

  1. (derogatory, informal, plural, plural-only, with-definite-article) rural terrain, especially a woody area; any rural region.
    • We had to drive way out into the sticks to visit that customer.
    • "How'd your in-laws feel about you marryin' your wife? Maybe you could pass the paper bag test and the comb test, but your old man had dark skin, kinky hair, and he was a dyed-in-wool baptist from out in the sticks."2002 February, Don Spears, Playing for Keeps, Los Angeles: Milligan Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 183
  2. (plural, plural-only) Hurdles or other obstacles to be jumped over.
    • It was a maiden race over the "sticks," and the trainer's instructions were to slip off and make the running throughout.1902, Outing: Sport, Adventure, Travel, Fiction, volume 40, page 469
    • Do they prefer flat or 'over the sticks' (jump races)? Does the group know what the races with jumps are called?2009, Anni Bowden, Nancy Lewthwaite, The Activity Year Book, page 124
  3. (plural, plural-only, slang, chiefly by long-time users) crutches

Meaning of stick

Noun

stick (countable and uncountable, plural sticks)

  1. A small, thin branch from a tree or bush; a twig; a branch.
    • The beaver's dam was made out of sticks.
    Synonyms:
    branch, twig, rice, kindling, brush
  2. A relatively long, thin piece of wood, of any size.
    • I found several good sticks in the brush heap.
  3. (US) A timber board, especially a two by four (inches).
    • I found enough sticks in dumpsters at construction sites to build my shed.
    Synonyms:
    two by four
  4. A cane or walking stick (usually wooden, metal or plastic) to aid in walking.
    • I don’t need my stick to walk, but it’s helpful.
    Synonyms:
    cane, walking stick
  5. A cudgel or truncheon (usually of wood, metal or plastic), especially one carried by police or guards.
    • As soon as the fight started, the guards came in swinging their sticks.
  6. The vertical member of a cope-and-stick joint.
    • When cutting the door parts, I cut all the copes first, then the sticks.1997, Joseph Beals, “Building Interior Doors”, in Doors, Taunton Press, →ISBN, page 82

See all 89 meanings of stick

Noun (2) capitalized: Sticks

Sticks

  1. (plural) plural of Stick

Synonyms of sticks

Forms of sticks

alternative formstix

Words formed from sticks

Phrases with sticks

188 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with sticks

25 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about sticks

What does sticks mean?
Sticks means rural terrain, especially a woody area; any rural region.
What is sticks the plural of?
Sticks is the plural of stick.
What part of speech is sticks?
Sticks is a noun.
How do you pronounce sticks?
Sticks is pronounced /stɪks/ (UK).

Words near sticks in the dictionary

  1. stickpin
  2. stickpins
  3. stickproof
  4. stickpusher
  5. stickpushers
  6. sticks
  7. sticks a needle in my eye
  8. sticks and carrots
  9. sticks and stones
  10. sticks and stones may break my bones
  11. sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sticks (page history and authors); Sticks (page history and authors); stick (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: en-us-sticks.ogg.

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