STEAD
What does "STEAD" mean?
The place or position of another person or thing, as in 'in someone's stead'.
Meanings
- The place or role normally occupied by another (chiefly in 'in one's stead'). The deputy attended the ceremony in the mayor's stead. formal
- Advantage or service, as in the phrase 'to stand someone in good stead'. Her years of training stood her in good stead during the crisis. formal
Did you know?
- The nearly-archaic word 'stead' is hiding in plain sight: it is the 'stead' in 'instead', 'homestead', and 'bedstead', and the same Germanic root gives German 'Stadt', meaning city.
Word origin
From Old English 'stede', meaning a place or position, from Proto-Germanic 'stadiz', from the Proto-Indo-European root 'sta-', to stand; the same root survives in 'instead', 'homestead', and German 'Stadt' (city).
Remember it
STEAD is the 'place' inside inSTEAD: when one thing takes another's place, it stands in its stead.
A little poem
He could not come, so sent his name instead-
a word can hold the place a man has fled.
couplet
What it teaches
Anyone can stand in another's stead for a day; what matters is whether you fill the place or merely occupy it.
Quick facts
What does STEAD mean?
The place or position of another person or thing, as in 'in someone's stead'.
Is STEAD a valid word?
Yes — STEAD is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is STEAD?
STEAD has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does STEAD come from?
From Old English 'stede', meaning a place or position, from Proto-Germanic 'stadiz', from the Proto-Indo-European root 'sta-', to stand; the same root survives in 'instead', 'homestead', and German 'Stadt' (city).
What can STEAD teach us?
Anyone can stand in another's stead for a day; what matters is whether you fill the place or merely occupy it.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.