still

A1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /stɪl/ UK [stɪɫ] See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like steal /ɪ/ vs /iː/ Sounds like steel /ɪ/ vs /iː/

Freq #137

Meanings

1

adv
Without moving or making a sound.

They sat as still as statues during the ceremony.
2

adj
Not moving; calm and quiet.

Please sit there and stay still!
3

adj
Of a drink: not fizzy; without bubbles.

Would you like sparkling or still water?
4

noun
A single photograph taken from a film, often used for advertising.

They used a still from the movie on the poster.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adv · without moving or making a... stock-still

2 adj · not moving; calm and quiet. calm quiet

3 adj · of a drink: not fizzy;... flat

More invariably nevertheless though uniformly yet

Word family

Forms stilledstillerstilleststillingstills

Derived forms still-greenstill-huntstillbirthstillborn stillness stock-stillstone-stillunstill

Related forms styll

Appears in

Phrases (5)

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still life
a painting or drawing of arranged objects such as fruit or flowers

Adjective + noun
still blooming
continuing to produce flowers at the time being described

Adverb + adjective
still alive
continuing to live or remain in existence

Adverb + adjective
still wary
remaining cautious or distrustful after a situation has changed

Adverb + adjective
still undecided
not having reached a decision even after some time

Adverb + adjective

Proverbs (7)

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Tongue twisters (2)

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Amidst the Mists
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts, With barest wrists and stoutest boasts, He thrusts his fists against the posts, And still insists he sees the ghosts.

Work slowly through the final consonants in mists, wrists, fists and ghosts. Keep the final /s/ audible without inserting a vowel into th...
Windmills and the Millwheel
To the windmills said the millwheel: “As the wind wills do you still wheel?” “Yes, we still wheel when the wind wills!” To the millwheel said the windmills.

Wind here means moving air and rhymes with pinned. Contrast the vowel in will with the longer vowel in wheel, keeping the final /l/ in both.

Simplified etymology

Still in the sense “not moving” comes from Old English. The noun still for an apparatus used in making spirits has a separate origin: it appeared in the mid-16th century and comes from distil, a later Middle English word based on Latin stilla, “a drop.”

Etymology

From Middle English stille (“motionless, stationary”), from Old English stille (“still, quiet”), from Proto-West Germanic *stillī, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)telH- (“to be silent; to be still”). Cognate with Scots stil (“still”), Saterland Frisian stil (“motionless, calm, quiet”), West Frisian stil (“quiet, still”), Dutch stil (“quiet, silent, still”), Low German still (“quiet, silent, still”), German still (“still, quiet, tranquil, silent”), Swedish stilla (“quiet, silent, peaceful”), Icelandic stilltur (“set, quiet, calm, still”). Related to stall. (noun: Falkland Islander): Military slang…

*(s)telH- Proto-Indo-European stille Old English *stillī Proto-West Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

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# still

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** adv, adj, noun
**IPA (US):** /stɪl/
**IPA (UK):** [stɪɫ]
**Frequency rank:** 137

## Meanings
1. Without moving or making a sound.
2. Not moving; calm and quiet.
3. Of a drink: not fizzy; without bubbles.
4. A single photograph taken from a film, often used for advertising.

## Examples
- They sat as still as statues during the ceremony.
- Please sit there and stay still!
- Would you like sparkling or still water?
- They used a still from the movie on the poster.

## Synonyms
- invariably
- nevertheless
- though
- uniformly
- yet

## Derived Forms
- still-green
- still-hunt
- stillbirth
- stillborn
- stillness
- stock-still
- stone-still
- unstill

## Related Forms
- styll

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *(s)telH-
- Root: stille
- Root: *stillī

## Etymology
From Middle English stille (“motionless, stationary”), from Old English stille (“still, quiet”), from Proto-West Germanic *stillī, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)telH- (“to be silent; to be still”). Cognate with Scots stil (“still”), Saterland Frisian stil (“motionless, calm, quiet”), West Frisian stil (“quiet, still”), Dutch stil (“quiet, silent, still”), Low German still (“quiet, silent, still”), German still (“still, quiet, tranquil, silent”), Swedish stilla (“quiet, silent, peaceful”), Icelandic stilltur (“set, quiet, calm, still”). Related to stall. (noun: Falkland Islander): Military slang…

## AI Etymology
Still is from Middle English stille (“motionless, stationary”), from Old English stille (“still, quiet”), from Proto-West Germanic *stillī, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)telH- (“to be silent; to be still”). Cognate with Scots stil (“still”), Saterland Frisian stil (“motionless, calm, quiet”), West Frisian stil (“quiet, still”), Dutch stil (“quiet, silent, still”), Low German still (“quiet, silent, still”), German still (“still, quiet, tranquil, silent”), Swedish stilla (“quiet, silent, peaceful”), Icelandic stilltur (“set, quiet, calm, still”). Related to stall.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

markdown

still

Meanings

Thesaurus

Appears in

Phrases (5)

Proverbs (7)

Tongue twisters (2)

Simplified etymology

Etymology

Topics

External links

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