stile

/staɪl/

stile noun: a set of one or more steps surmounting a fence or wall, or a narrow gate or contrived passage through a fence or wall, which in either case allows people but not livestock to pass. Also the obsolete form of style.

Image: Immanuel Giel, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

stile (plural stiles)

A set of one or more steps surmounting a fence or wall, or a narrow gate or contrived passage through a fence or wall, which in either case allows people but not livestock to pass.
- 'Twas very true what Greening said; for of a summer evening I would take the path that led up Weatherbeech Hill, behind the Manor; both because 'twas a walk that had a good prospect in itself, and also a sweet charm for me, namely, the hope of seeing Grace Maskew. And there I often sat upon the...[1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC
A vertical component of a frame or panel, such as that of a door, window, or ladder.

Synonyms:

rail, stringer

Also used as

stile is also the obsolete form of style.

Synonyms of stile

Forms of stile

Noun
plural	stiles
alternative form	style
Verb
third-person singular present	stiles
present participle	stiling
past participle	stiled
past	stiled

Origin of stile

From Middle English stile, style, stiȝele, from Old English stiġel (“stile, set of steps for getting over a fence”), from Proto-West Germanic *stigilu, from Proto-Germanic *stigilō (“entry, entrance, overpass, device for climbing, stile”), equivalent to sty (“to ascend, climb”) + -le. Cognate with Dutch stegel (“stirrup”), Low German Stegel (“stile”), German Stiegel (“stile”).

See the etymology at style.

Words formed from stile

Phrases with stile

Words that rhyme with stile

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about stile

What does stile mean?: Stile means a set of one or more steps surmounting a fence or wall, or a narrow gate or contrived passage through a fence or wall, which in either case allows people but not livestock to pass.
What part of speech is stile?: Stile is a noun.
How do you pronounce stile?: Stile is pronounced /staɪl/ (UK).
What is the plural of stile?: The plural of stile is stiles.

Words near stile in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: stile (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: 2026-09-02

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

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