STANDING

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does standing mean? 

• STANDING (noun)
  The noun STANDING has 3 senses:

1. social or financial or professional status or reputation

2. an ordered listing of scores or results showing the relative positions of competitors (individuals or teams) in a sporting event

3. the act of assuming or maintaining an erect upright position

  Familiarity information: STANDING used as a noun is uncommon.

• STANDING (adjective)
  The adjective STANDING has 6 senses:

1. having a supporting base

2. not created for a particular occasion

3. (of fluids) not moving or flowing

4. executed in or initiated from a standing position

5. (of persons) on the feet; having the torso in an erect position supported by straight legs

6. permanent

  Familiarity information: STANDING used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STANDING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Social or financial or professional status or reputation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

a member in good standing

Hypernyms ("standing" is a kind of...):

position; status (the relative position or standing of things or especially persons in a society)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "standing"):

rating (standing or position on a scale)

ranking (position on a scale in relation to others in status or rank or achievement)

prominence (the state of being prominent: widely known or eminent)

grandness; importance (a prominent status)

prestige; prestigiousness (a high standing achieved through success or influence or wealth etc.)

obscurity (an obscure and unimportant standing; not well known)

honor; honour; laurels (the state of being honored)

dishonor; dishonour (a state of shame or disgrace)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An ordered listing of scores or results showing the relative positions of competitors (individuals or teams) in a sporting event

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("standing" is a kind of...):

list; listing (a database containing an ordered array of items (names or topics))

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of assuming or maintaining an erect upright position

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("standing" is a kind of...):

motility; motion; move; movement (a change of position that does not entail a change of location)

Derivation:

stand (be standing; be upright)

• STANDING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having a supporting base

Context example:

a standing lamp

Similar:

erect; upright; vertical (upright in position or posture)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Not created for a particular occasion

Context example:

a standing committee

Similar:

lasting; permanent (continuing or enduring without marked change in status or condition or place)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(of fluids) not moving or flowing

Context example:

mosquitoes breed in standing water

Similar:

dead; stagnant (not circulating or flowing)

slack (flowing with little speed as e.g. at the turning of the tide)

still (free from noticeable current)

Antonym:

running ((of fluids) moving or issuing in a stream)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Executed in or initiated from a standing position

Context example:

a standing ovation

Antonym:

running (executed or initiated by running)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(of persons) on the feet; having the torso in an erect position supported by straight legs

Context example:

standing room only

Antonym:

seated ((of persons) having the torso erect and legs bent with the body supported on the buttocks)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Permanent

Context example:

a standing army

Similar:

regular ((used of the military) belonging to or engaged in by legitimate army forces)

 Context examples 

The prisoners were left for the moment standing alone in the middle of the clearing.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Had he known that it was no warlike hero, but a little tailor who was standing before him, it would have gone to his heart still more than it did.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Language cannot describe the anxieties, experiences, and exertions which Jo underwent that morning, and the dinner she served up became a standing joke.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

This will give you plenty of time to work on your dreams because Jupiter is standing by to help you realize them.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

He had a youth about eighteen years old standing by his side.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

When these people drew near the house where Dorothy was standing in the doorway, they paused and whispered among themselves, as if afraid to come farther.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

A diffuse large B-cell lymphoma arising in body cavities or narrow spaces of long standing chronic inflammation.

(Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Associated with Chronic Inflammation, NCI Thesaurus)

Anne was startled and confused; but after standing in a moment's suspense, was obliged, and not sorry to be obliged, to hurry away.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The Mysteries of Udolpho, when I had once begun it, I could not lay down again; I remember finishing it in two days—my hair standing on end the whole time.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

For some time she had been doing the worse thing possible for me—standing still.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)