stead
stead Lexical Profile
stead Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The place, role, or function that someone or something else would normally occupy or perform (used chiefly in the phrase 'in someone's stead').
"Because the director was ill, the deputy attended the diplomatic summit in her stead."
Advantage, usefulness, or service to someone (used chiefly in the phrase 'stand someone in good stead').
"Her fluency in Mandarin stood her in good stead during the international trade negotiations."
A physical place, site, or landed property, such as a farm or estate (now archaic except in compounds like 'homestead' or 'farmstead').
"The old parish records listed every croft and stead along the river valley."
• verb
To be of use, service, or advantage to someone; to avail or assist (archaic).
"All his former wealth could not stead him in that hour of need."
Word Nuance & Usage
In modern English, 'stead' is rarely used as a standalone noun and appears almost exclusively in the fixed expressions 'in someone's stead' (in someone's place) and 'stand someone in good stead' (to be advantageous or useful to someone). It also survives as a combining element in compounds denoting a place, such as 'homestead', 'farmstead', and 'bedstead', and fused within the word 'instead'.
• Rhymes for stead
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'stede', meaning 'place, position, or standing', from Proto-Germanic '*stadiz', which is ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European root '*stā-' ('to stand').