stitch

UK/stɪt͡ʃ/

stitch noun: a single pass of a needle in sewing; the loop or turn of the thread thus made.

Noun

stitch (countable and uncountable, plural stitches)

(countable) A single pass of a needle in sewing; the loop or turn of the thread thus made.
1. A single pass of a surgical suture (to sew the edges of a wound together)
  - I cut myself badly while cooking and needed to go to hospital to get stitches.
An arrangement of stitches in sewing, or method of stitching in some particular way or style.
- cross stitch
- herringbone stitch
An intense stabbing pain under the lower edge of the ribcage, brought on by exercise or laughing.
- I've got a stitch. I'm going to have to stop and rest.
- After about fifteen minutes I got terrible stitch.
A local sharp pain (anywhere); an acute pain, like the piercing of a needle.
- a stitch in the side
- He was the next day taken with an oppreſſion, and as it ſeemed with a cold and with ſtitches, which was indeed a pluriſy.a. 1716 (date written), [Gilbert] Burnet, “Book III. Of the Rest of King Charles II’s Reign, from the Year 1673 to the Year 1685, in which He Died.”, in [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], editor, Bishop Burnet’s...
A single turn of the thread round a needle in knitting; a link, or loop, of yarn
- drop a stitch
- take up a stitch
An arrangement of stitches in knitting, or method of knitting in some particular way or style.
A space of work taken up, or gone over, in a single pass of the needle.
A fastening, as of thread or wire, through the back of a book to connect the pages.
(broadly) Any space passed over; distance.
- [Y]ou have gone a good ſtitch, you may well be a weary; ſit down.1684, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. From This World to That which is to Come: The Second Part. […], London: […] Nathaniel Ponder […], →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress as Originally...
(colloquial) Any least part of a fabric or clothing.
- to wet every stitch of clothes
- She didn’t have a stitch (of clothing) on.
An incorporation of an existing video into a new one, resulting in a collaborative clip that shows the two videos in a sequence.
- More than 19,000 people commented, along with more stitches than she could count, Sallee said.2023 May 31, Tatum Hunter, “On TikTok, women get real about the pitfalls of motherhood”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...
- One answer that appeared in multiple comments and stitches was that women often think about the possibility of being victims of violence.2023 September 20, Brittany Miller, “Women respond to viral TikTok prompt asking about ‘female version’ of male Roman Empire obsession”, in The Independent, London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN...
(dated) A ridge of ploughed land between two furrows.
- Now plow down your Weat-stitches, by running the Two-wheel Fallow-Plough three or four times through each Stitch, which will almost level the Ground;1750, William Ellis, “Of Plowings preparatory for Sofing Lent Crops of Grain, &c. in Chilturn Grounds”, in The Modern Husbandman - Volume 4, page 42
(obsolete) A contortion, or twist.
- If you talke / Or pull your face into a ſtich againe, / As I love truth I ſhall be very angry.1609–1612, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Captaine”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii...

Verb

stitch (third-person singular simple present stitches, present participle stitching, simple past and past participle stitched)

To form stitches in; especially, to sew in such a manner as to show on the surface a continuous line of stitches.
- to stitch a shirt bosom.
Synonyms:

sew
To sew, or unite or attach by stitches.
- to stitch printed sheets in making a book or a pamphlet.
- With such focus from within the footballing community this week on Remembrance Sunday, there was something appropriate about Colchester being the venue for last night’s game. Troops from the garrison town formed a guard of honour for both sets of players, who emerged for the national anthem with...2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in Telegraph
Synonyms:

sew, stitch together
(intransitive) To practice/practise stitching or needlework.
To form land into ridges.

Synonyms:

plough, plow
To weld together through a series of connecting or overlapping spot welds.
- You can prevent warping and get a very strong weld by stitching your pieces together.2009, Jeffery Zurschmeide, Automotive Welding: A Practical Guide, →ISBN, page 44
- For example, the butt joint can be welded with the continuous technique or the stitch technique.2014, James E. Duffy, Auto Body Repair Technology, →ISBN, page 239
To include, combine, or unite into a single whole.
- Whereas liturgically, in the sacramental narrative of the Cross, worshippers are stitched into a salvation story, cinema spectators are stitched into a narrative in which the ordinary guy overcomes the Other in an extraordinary situation.2011, Steve Nolan, Film, Lacan and the Subject of Religion, →ISBN
- However, it is the depth and breadth of your scholarship, your incisive and decisive writing, your numerous books exemplifying this masterful craftsmanship (I stopped counting after nineteen), your wit, and your relentless resolve to listen and get it right that are now stitched into my memories.2013, Peyton McCoy, Walk into Your Season: The Art of Cultural Work, →ISBN, page viii
1. To combine two or more photographs of the same scene into a single image.
  - I can use this software to stitch together a panorama.
2. To incorporate (an existing video) into a new one, resulting in a collaborative clip that shows the two videos in a sequence.
  - One site, PearPop.com, hooks TikTok or Instagram influencers up with fans to create duetted or stitched videos that fans pay for. This can be an effective way to build followers fast.⁹ Model Leah Svoboda added 120,000 followers after a PearPop duet with megainfluencer Anna Shumate.¹⁰2022, Brian Boxer Wachler, Influenced: The Impact of Social Media on Our Perception, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, pages 186–187
  - She talks briefly about their park picnic and then inserts a cliffhanger: “I’m going to stitch this when we’re either in a relationship or he absolutely obliterates my self-esteem.” (Stitch is a creation tool that allows users to add new content to an existing video.)2023 March 1, Rachel Ellison, “Bad Dates Turn Out to Be Excellent on TikTok”, in The New York Times

stitch meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

stitch in Hindi

single pass of the needle in sewing: सिलाई silāī

stitch in Tamil

single pass of the needle in sewing: தையல் taiyal
To practice stitching: தையல் பழகு taiyal paḻaku

stitch in Urdu

چبھن, ٹانکا, بننا, سینا, سلائی کرنا

More languagesFewer languages

stitch in Bengali: সেলাই, ফোঁড়
stitch in Telugu: కుట్టు kuṭṭu
stitch in Malayalam: തയ്യൽ, തുന്നൽ, ഇഴ
stitch in Kannada: ಪೊಲ್, ಪೊಲಿ, ಹೊಲಿ, ಸೆಡು
stitch in Punjabi: ਟਾਂਕਾ
stitch in Gujarati: ટાંકો
stitch in Odia: ଟଙ୍କା ṭaṅkā
stitch in Sanskrit: सीव्यति sī́vyati
stitch in Arabic: غَرَزَة ḡaraza
stitch in Persian: کوک kuk
stitch in Vietnamese: mũi khâu

Examples of stitch in a sentence

A sharp stitch in the left side of the head, on sitting down […] A sharp stitch in the upper part of the right side of the head, […]1878, Timothy Field Allen, The Encyclopedia of pure materia medica v. 8, 1878, page 291:
"Why, it's you that are stripping me," replied the Ogress, "and you have not left a stitch on me." "Where the devil is the quilt?" says the Ogre[.]1828, Thomas Keightley, Fairy Mythology, volume II, page 237:
I would go out tonight / But I haven't got a stitch to wear1983, “This Charming Man”, Johnny Marr, Morrissey (lyrics), performed by The Smiths:
The stitches, as they are called on TikTok, nearly always end in agreement that Ms.2023 October 24, Remy Tumin, “She Made Pesto. People Started Spilling Their Secrets.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York...

All 40 example sentences with stitch

Synonyms of stitch

Forms of stitch

Noun
plural	stitches
alternative misspelling (obsolete)	stich
Verb
third-person singular present	stitches
present participle	stitching
past participle	stitched
past	stitched

Past tense of stitch: stitched

Plural of stitch: stitches

Origin of stitch

From Middle English stiche, from Old English stiċe (“a prick, puncture, stab, thrust with a pointed implement, pricking sensation, stitch, pain in the side, sting”), from Proto-West Germanic *stiki, from Proto-Germanic *stikiz (“prick, piercing, stitch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to stab, pierce”). Cognate with Dutch steek (“prick, stitch”), German Stich (“a prick, piercing, stitch”), Old English stician (“to stick, stab, pierce, prick”). More at stick. Via PIE cognate with Czech steh, Polish ścieg, Russian стежо́к (stežók).

From Middle English sticchen, stichen, from Old English *stiċċan, stiċċian, from Proto-Germanic *stikjaną (“to stab, stick, prick”), influenced by the noun (see above).

Words formed from stitch

Phrases with stitch

5 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with stitch

25 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about stitch

What does stitch mean?: Stitch means a single pass of a needle in sewing; the loop or turn of the thread thus made.
What is stitch in Hindi?: Stitch in Hindi is सिलाई (silāī). See Stitch meaning in Hindi.
How do you use stitch in a sentence?: A sharp stitch in the left side of the head, on sitting down […] A sharp stitch in the upper part of the right side of the head, […]
What part of speech is stitch?: Stitch can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce stitch?: Stitch is pronounced /stɪt͡ʃ/ (UK).
What is the plural of stitch?: The plural of stitch is stitches.

Words near stitch in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: stitch (page history and authors); ओवणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); stitch (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stitch (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stitch (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stitch (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stitch (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stitch (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ଟଙ୍କା (Odia) (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: en-us-stitch.ogg.

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