Word.ws English Dictionary

stone

/stəʊ̯n//stoʊ̯n/

stone noun: a hard earthen substance that can form rocks; especially, such substance when regarded as a building material.

stone: a hard earthen substance that can form rocks; especially, such substance when regarded as a...
Image: AlMare, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

stone (countable and uncountable, plural stones or (UK, as unit of weight) stone)

  1. (uncountable) A hard earthen substance that can form rocks; especially, such substance when regarded as a building material.
    • Toad, that vnder cold ſtone, / Dayes and Nights ha’s thirty one: / Sweltred Venom ſleeping got, / Boyle thou firſt i’th’ charmed pot.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    • The first day of the weeke, commeth Mary Magdalene earely when it was yet darke, vnto the Sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the Sepulchre.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 20:1
    Synonyms:
    rock
  2. (countable) A piece of such material: a block of stone, rock or a pebble.
    • A railway station which formerly stood a few miles from Sydney has recently been demolished, stone by stone, and has been re-erected as a church in the Australian Capital Territory of Canberra, about 200 miles away.1960 March, “Notes and News: Cemetery Station Re-Erected as a Church”, in Railway Magazine, page 215
    Synonyms:
    pebble
  3. A gemstone, a jewel, especially a diamond.
    • […]Ineſtimable Stones, vnvalewed Iewels[…]c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  4. (UK) A unit of weight equal to 14 pounds (≈6.3503 kilograms), formerly used for various commodities (wool, cheese, etc.), but now principally used for personal weight. Abbreviated as st.
    • British people measure their weight in stones and pounds. I weigh eight stone five.
    • Seven pounds make a clove, 2 cloves a stone, 2 stone a tod, 6+¹⁄₂ tods a wey, 2 weys a sack, 12 sacks a last. […] It is to be observed here that a sack is 13 tods, and a tod 28 pounds, so that the sack is 364 pounds.1843, The Penny Cyclopaedia, page 202
    Synonyms:
    petra
  5. The central part of some fruits, particularly drupes; consisting of the seed and a hard endocarp layer.
    • Near-synonym: pip
    • a peach stone
    Synonyms:
    pit, seed pit, pyrena, pyrene, pip
  6. A hard, stone-like deposit.
    • The pain of passing a larger stone is often compared to child birth.2016 September 26, James Hamblin, “A Health Benefit of Roller Coasters”, in The Atlantic
    Synonyms:
    calculus
  7. (board games) A playing piece made of any hard material, used in various board games such as backgammon and go.
  8. A dull light grey or beige, like that of some stones.
  9. A 42-pound, precisely shaped piece of granite with a handle attached, which is bowled down the ice.
    Synonyms:
    curling stone, rock
  10. A monument to the dead; a gravestone or tombstone.
    • Amid that scene, if ſome relenting eye
      Glance on the ſtone where our cold reliques lie.1717, Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], published 1717, →OCLC, page 434
    • It seems to me that when I die / These words will be written on my stone[…]2013 November 25, Zayn Malik, “Story of My Life”, in Midnight Memories, Columbia Records; Syco Music
  11. (obsolete) A mirror, or its glass.
    • She's dead as earth: Lend me a Looking-glaſſe; / If that her breath will miſt or ſtaine the ſtone, / Why then ſhe liues.c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  12. (obsolete) A testicle.
    • […]and yet I warrant it had vpon it brow, a bumpe as big as a young Cockrels ſtone?c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    • Hee that is wounded in the ſtones, or hath his priuie member cut off, ſhall not enter into the Congregation of the Lord.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 23:1
  13. (historical) A stand or table with a smooth, flat top of stone, commonly marble, on which to arrange the pages of a book, newspaper, etc. before printing.
    • The Chief called the makeup editor to the stone, pointed to the story which had caught his eye, and suggested a fairly simple remake.1965, George Murray, The Madhouse on Madison Street, page 38
    Synonyms:
    imposing stone

Adjective

stone (not comparable)

  1. Constructed of stone.
    • stone walls
    Synonyms:
    stonen
  2. Having the appearance of stone.
    • stone pot
  3. Of a dull light grey or beige, like that of some stones.
  4. (African-American Vernacular) Used as an intensifier.
    • She is one stone fox.
    • Yeah, he's a stone fuck–up. But he's stand–up, too, don't forget that.1994, Andrew H. Vachss, Born Bad: Stories
  5. (slang) Willing to give sexual pleasure but not to receive it.
    • stone butch
    • stone femme
    Antonyms:
    pillow princess

Adverb

stone (not comparable)

  1. As a stone (used with following adjective).
    • My father is stone deaf. This soup is stone cold.
  2. (slang) Absolutely, completely (used with following adjectives).
    • I went stone crazy after she left.
    • I said the medication made my vision temporarily blurry, it did not make me stone blind.

Verb

stone (third-person singular simple present stones, present participle stoning, simple past and past participle stoned)

  1. (transitive) To pelt with stones; especially, to kill by pelting with stones.
    • stoned to death
    • She got stoned to death after they found her.
    Synonyms:
    lapidate, stean
  2. (transitive) To wall or wall up with stones.
    • […] and since it was a rule of the French troops not to be a burden on the people along their route it could be that the advance guard dug and stoned the well for the troop's own special use.1974, Mathias Peter Harpin, Prophets in the wilderness: a history of Coventry, Rhode Island
    Synonyms:
    stean
  3. (transitive) To remove a stone from (fruit etc.).
    Synonyms:
    destone, pit
  4. (intransitive) To form a stone during growth, with reference to fruit etc.
  5. (slang, transitive) Especially of cannabis or narcotics: To intoxicate. (Usually in passive)
  6. (Singapore, intransitive, slang) To do nothing, to stare blankly into space and not pay attention when relaxing or when bored.
    • I was stoning the whole of today.2003, Roger, Joy, Vera and Amanda Loh, Facts about Singapore: Differences between Ohio and Singapore
    • Resume writing class lesson 2, stoning.2011 November 2, Shermaine Ong, (Please provide the book title or journal name)
  7. (transitive) To lap with an abrasive stone to remove surface irregularities.
    • Before they did the setup on the machining center, they stoned the table to knock down any nicked burrs.

Proper noun capitalized: Stone

Stone (countable and uncountable, plural Stones)

  1. (countable) An English occupational and habitational surname from Old English, for someone who lived near a stone worked with stone, from Old English stan.
    • Tucker Carlson (also a jacket and tie guy) picked up on the hoo-ha on his Fox News show, calling the hoodie-jacket combination a “cry for help” and inviting Roger Stone, the disgraced former political operative and author of his own “Best and Worst dressed List,” to comment.2023 February 20, Vanessa Friedman, “Don Lemon, Nikki Haley and the Lessons of a Hoodie”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
  2. (countable) A male given name.
  3. A village in Stone with Bishopstone and Hartwell parish, Buckinghamshire, previously in Aylesbury Vale district (OS grid ref SP7811).
  4. A village in Ham and Stone parish, Stroud district, Gloucestershire (OS grid ref ST6895).
  5. A village and civil parish in Dartford borough, Kent (OS grid ref TQ5774).
  6. A hamlet in Maltby parish, Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire (OS grid ref SK5589).
  7. A market town and civil parish with a town council in Stafford borough, Staffordshire (OS grid ref SJ9034).
  8. A village and civil parish in Wyre Forest district, Worcestershire (OS grid ref SO8575).
  9. An unincorporated community in California.
  10. An unincorporated community in Indiana.
  11. An unincorporated community and coal town in Pike County, Kentucky; named for coal businessman Galen L. Stone.
  12. An unincorporated community in the town of Rutland, Dane County, Wisconsin.
  13. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Stone County.

stone meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

stone in Hindi

gem stone — see also gem, precious stone
मणि maṇi, रत्न ratna, गोहर gohar
substance
पत्थर patthar, शिला śilā, रोड़ा roṛā, हजर hajar, संग saṅg, शिल śil
small piece of stone
पत्थर patthar, हजर hajar, संग saṅg
constructed of stone
संगी saṅgī, संगीन saṅgīn

stone in Tamil

gem stone — see also gem, precious stone
கல் kal, மணி maṇi, மணிக்கல் maṇikkal
substance
கல் kal
piece of hard material used in board games
கல் kal, காய் kāy
constructed of stone
கல் kal

stone in Marathi

substance
दगड dagaḍ
small piece of stone
दगड dagaḍ, खडा khaḍā
unit of mass
स्टोन sṭon

stone in Urdu

substance
پتھر patthar, شلا śilā
small piece of stone
پتھر patthar
More languagesFewer languages
stone in Bengali
পাথর pathor
stone in Telugu
మణి maṇi, రత్నం ratnaṁ, రాయి rāyi, రాతి rāti
stone in Malayalam
കല്ല് kallŭ
stone in Kannada
ಕಲ್ಲಿನ
stone in Punjabi
ਪਥਰਾਅ
stone in Odia
ପଥର pathara
stone in Sanskrit
शिला śilā, पाषी pāṣī
stone in Sinhala
ගල gala
stone in Assamese
পাথৰ pathor, শিল xil
stone in Nepali
ढुङ्गा ḍhuṅgā
stone in Tagalog
bato
stone in Arabic
حَجَر ḥajar, حجر ḥagar, صخر ṣaḵar, حصى ḥaṣā
stone in Malay
batu, rejam
stone in Indonesian
batu, rajam, rejam
stone in Persian
گوهر gohar, سنگ sang, سنگی, برد bard
stone in Thai
หิน hǐn, ศิลา sì-laa, ก้อนหิน gɔ̂ɔn-hǐn, นิ่ว nîu
stone in Vietnamese
đá
stone in Myanmar
ကျောက် kyauk
Kashmiri
کٔنؠ kạn', کٔنؠ پٔھلؠ kạn' pạhl', سٔنٛگیٖن sạngīn, کنؠ جَنٛگ kn' jang
Dzongkha
རྡོ rdo

Examples of stone in a sentence

  • The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight.2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:
  • Generally, however, the stone or petra, almost always of 14 lbs., is used, the tod of 28 lbs., and the sack of thirteen stones.1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume IV, page 209:
  • Someone who doesn't realize that is a stone bigot to begin with.2000 September 9, Lisa Beth, “Rabbi Shmuli Boteach Refuted”, in soc.culture.jewish.moderated (Usenet):
  • “And I got the best metal man in the business going for me, too.” “This job's going to be a stone motherfucker,” Flacco said2001, Andrew H. Vachss, Pain Management:

All 40 example sentences with stone

Synonyms of stone

13 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of stone

Forms of stone

Noun
pluralstones
plural UKstone
alternative Northumbriastyen
alternative UK (dialectal)stean
Verb
third-person singular presentstones
present participlestoning
past participlestoned
paststoned
Proper noun
pluralStones

Past tense of stone: stoned

Plural of stone: stones

Origin of stone

From Middle English ston, stone, stan, from Old English stān, from Proto-West Germanic *stain, from Proto-Germanic *stainaz (“stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- (“to stiffen”). Cognates Cognate with Scots stane (“stone”), Yola sthoan (“stone”), North Frisian stean, stian, stiin, stiinj (“stone”), Saterland Frisian Steen (“stone”), West Frisian stien (“stone”), Alemannic German Steei (“rock, stone”), Bavarian Staa (“rock, stone”), Central Franconian Steen, Stään (“stone”), Dutch steen (“stone”), German Stein (“rock, stone”), German Low German Steen, Stein (“stone”), Luxembourgish Steen (“stone”), Vilamovian śtan (“stone”), Yiddish שטיין (shteyn, “stone”), Danish and Swedish sten (“stone”), Elfdalian stien (“stone”), Faroese steinur (“stone”), Gutnish stain (“rock, stone”), Icelandic steinn (“rock, stone”), Norwegian Bokmål stein, sten (“stone”), Norwegian Nynorsk steidn, stein (“stone”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (stains, “stone”). Compare also Ancient Greek στία (stía, “pebble”), στέαρ (stéar, “tallow”), Lithuanian sténgti (“to be able, make an effort; to oppose”), Russian стена́ (stená, “wall”), Albanian shtëng (“hardened or pressed matter”), Sanskrit स्तिया (stiyā, “still or...

From Middle English stonen, stanen, from Old English *stānian (“to stone”), from Proto-West Germanic *stainōn, from Proto-Germanic *stainōną (“to stone”). Cognate with Scots stane (“to stone”), German Low German stenen (“to stone”), Danish stene (“to stone”), Swedish stena (“to stone”), Faroese steina (“to stone”). Compare also Saterland Frisian stenigje (“to stone”), West Frisian stiennigje (“to stone”), Dutch stenigen (“to stone”), German steinigen (“to stone”).

From stone. Doublet of Steen and Stein.

Words formed from stone

Phrases with stone

169 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with stone

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about stone

What does stone mean?
Stone means a hard earthen substance that can form rocks; especially, such substance when regarded as a building material.
What is stone in Hindi?
Stone in Hindi is मणि (maṇi), रत्न (ratna), गोहर (gohar). See Stone meaning in Hindi.
How do you use stone in a sentence?
The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight.
What part of speech is stone?
Stone can be a noun, an adjective, an adverb or a verb.
How do you pronounce stone?
Stone is pronounced /stəʊ̯n/ (UK).
What is the plural of stone?
The plural of stone is stones.

Words near stone in the dictionary

  1. Ston
  2. Ston Easton
  3. stonable
  4. stond
  5. stonds
  6. stone
  7. stone age
  8. Stone Age diet
  9. stone alignment
  10. stone alignments
  11. stone babies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stone (page history and authors); Stone (page history and authors); stone (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stone (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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)-Back ache-stone.wav, En-us-stone.ogg.

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