stance

B2 Topic:Space, Position & Direction

US [stɛəns] UK /stæns/ See IPA manual

Freq #11382

Meanings

1

noun
Your opinion or position on an issue.

I don't agree with your stance on gun control.
2

noun
The way you stand or hold your body.

The fencer's stance showed he was ready to begin.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · your opinion or position on... position posture stand

Word family

Forms stances

Derived forms midstancestanceless

Etymology

From Middle English staunce (“place to stand; battle station; position; standing in society; circumstance, situation; stanchion”), from Old French estance (“predicament; situation; sojourn, stay”) (compare modern French stance (“stanza; position one stands in when golfing”)), from Italian stanza (“room, standing place; stanza”), from Vulgar Latin *stantia, from Latin stō (“to stand; to remain, stay”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”). The word is cognate with Spanish estante (“shelf”) and a doublet of stanza. The verb is derived from the noun. Compare typologically…

*steh₂- Proto-Indo-European staunce Middle English estance Old French stanza Italian *stantia la-vul stō Latin

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# stance

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** [stɛəns]
**IPA (UK):** /stæns/
**Frequency rank:** 11382

## Meanings
1. Your opinion or position on an issue.
2. The way you stand or hold your body.

## Examples
- I don't agree with your stance on gun control.
- The fencer's stance showed he was ready to begin.

## Derived Forms
- midstance
- stanceless

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *steh₂-
- Root: staunce
- Root: estance
- Root: stanza
- Root: *stantia
- Root: stō

## Etymology
From Middle English staunce (“place to stand; battle station; position; standing in society; circumstance, situation; stanchion”), from Old French estance (“predicament; situation; sojourn, stay”) (compare modern French stance (“stanza; position one stands in when golfing”)), from Italian stanza (“room, standing place; stanza”), from Vulgar Latin *stantia, from Latin stō (“to stand; to remain, stay”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”). The word is cognate with Spanish estante (“shelf”) and a doublet of stanza. The verb is derived from the noun. Compare typologically…

## AI Etymology
Stance comes from Middle English staunce (“place to stand; battle station; position; standing in society; circumstance, situation; stanchion”), from Old French estance (“predicament; situation; sojourn, stay”) (compare modern French stance (“stanza; position one stands in when golfing”)), from Italian stanza (“room, standing place; stanza”), from Vulgar Latin *stantia, from Latin stō (“to stand; to remain, stay”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”). The word is cognate with Spanish estante (“shelf”) and a doublet of stanza. The verb is derived from the noun. The historical chain includes *steh₂- (Proto-Indo-European), staunce (Middle English), estance (Old French), stanza (Italian), and *stantia (Vulgar Latin). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as midstance and stanceless. In present use it covers your opinion or position on an issue and the way you stand or hold your body.

## Topics
- Space, Position & Direction

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stance

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