standing
Noun pluralstandings (some meanings)
Pluralstandings (some meanings)
- 1Present participle and gerund of stand.
The crowd was standing for the entire concert.
Standing in the rain, he waited for the taxi.
- 2A person's rank or reputation within society or a profession.
Decades of charitable work earned her considerable standing in the community.
The scandal damaged the senator's standing with voters.
UsageUsually high or good standing in a community, with voters or among colleagues; a member in good standing has kept the rules.
- 3A team's position in a league, or a player's place in a ranked list.
After three straight wins, the team's standing in the league rose from tenth to fourth.
The upset win moved the team up two places in the league standings.
UsageThe standings are the whole league table; one team has a standing in the league, or a place in the standings.
Similarposition, ranking, place, placing
Note
Sports talk measures this in places: a win can lift a team's standing three spots, and a loss can drop it. It is decided by accumulated results, such as wins, points or times over a season or a tournament. That makes it a position earned on the table, not a reputation. The broader sense of esteem belongs to social or professional standing.
- 4Performed while in an upright position rather than sitting or lying down.
When the last note faded, the whole audience gave the cellist a standing ovation that lasted several minutes.
Athletes train the standing long jump for explosive power.
UsageUsed before a noun, mostly in set phrases: give someone a standing ovation, the standing long jump.
- 5Permanent or continuing in force rather than made for one occasion, as in a standing army, committee, order, or invitation.
The committee has a standing order to meet every first Monday.
Their standing agreement allows either side to cancel with notice.
- 6The act of being on one's feet, or the place where a person stands.
Prolonged standing during the long shift caused her back pain.
Jobs that involve a lot of standing, such as nursing and retail work, can be hard on the knees and lower back.
Similarstation
Note
In older English, a place to stand could be a post, a foothold or a viewpoint. Marlowe's Tamburlaine orders his men to "keep all your standings," their posts in the field. In the King James Bible of 1611 the speaker sinks "in deep mire, where there is no standing," with nowhere to set a foot. In Francis Bacon's New Atlantis, a character promises the narrator "a good standing to see his entry," a place to watch from.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
- Older English used standing for a place occupied by someone, including the three situations illustrated below. en.wiktionary.org
- Christopher Marlowe wrote Tamburlaine the Great. gutenberg.org
- Tamburlaine orders his men to keep their positions, using the quoted words. gutenberg.org
- The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
- The speaker in Psalm 69:2 describes sinking in mire without firm footing, using the quoted wording. en.wikisource.org
- Francis Bacon wrote New Atlantis. en.wikisource.org
- A character in New Atlantis promises the narrator and his companions a place to watch an arrival, using the quoted words. en.wikisource.org
- 7A party's right to bring a legal action, based on its connection to the matter at issue.
The court found that the neighbors had standing to challenge the permit.
Lacking standing, the plaintiff saw the claim dismissed.
UsageUsually with no a: a party has standing to sue or to challenge something, or lacks standing.
Note
In law the question is not whether a claim is good but whether this party may bring it. In U.S. federal courts it requires injury in fact, causation and redressability: a real harm, traced to the action and remediable by the court.
- 8The length of time something has existed or continued.
He is a member of long standing in the society.
The quarrel between the two families is of such long standing that nobody remembers how it began.
UsageMostly of long standing, after the noun: a member of long standing; also of twenty years' standing.
- 9Fixed in position and not able to be moved.
The workshop's standing press was anchored to a concrete base.
Before the race, the crew replaced the standing rigging that holds the mast in place and left the running ropes for later.
Similarfixed, stationary, immovable, static
Oppositemovable, portable, mobile, moving
Note
The contrast is with things built to move. A standing bed is the fixed frame, set against a trundle-bed that rolls out from beneath it. A ship's standing rigging is the part that stays fixed in place. Here the adjective means permanent placement, which separates it from the "stagnant" sense, where only the motion has stopped.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- A standing bed is fixed, in contrast to a trundle-bed. en.wiktionary.org
- A trundle-bed rolls out from beneath another bed. en.wikipedia.org
- Standing rigging comprises the fixed parts of a sailing vessel's rigging. en.wikipedia.org
- 10Stagnant and not moving or flowing, as water collected in a pool.
Standing water in the ditch had turned green over the summer.
Disease spreads quickly where standing water collects near homes.
Similarstagnant, still, motionless
Less common meanings
- 11Still upright and not yet cut down or harvested.
They assessed the value of the standing timber before the sale.
A storm flattened much of the standing wheat overnight.
Similaruncut, unharvested
Oppositecut
- 12Space, especially in a yard or driveway, in which to park one or more vehicles.
The property includes off-road standing for three vehicles.
Residents complained that the new flats offered no standing for cars.
UsageOften with no a, like room or space: standing for two cars.
Note
The compound hard standing names surfaced ground where vehicles can be left, as in "roads, hard standing, and waste."
- 13The spot on a street where a market trader regularly sets up to sell goods.
Note
British market usage: a trader's standing is the spot where he regularly does business. Pitch is the everyday word for the same thing, but standing survives in UK market law, which speaks of the stalls and standings of a market place. In ordinary talk it has a period sound. Outside a market context, it might be read as a place where someone stands or simply misunderstood.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Standing is recorded as British slang in this market sense. en.wiktionary.org
- Historically, a standing was a street trader's regular trading location. en.wikipedia.org
- Pitch remains a word for a trader's allocated market space. en.wiktionary.org
- The meaning survives in modern British market terminology: Cambridge City Council's market regulations refer to trading spaces as standings. cambridge.gov.uk
Showing meanings only.
standing is a form of stand
stand, verb: To support oneself upright on the feet, neither sitting nor lying. Full entry
- Spelling
- stand → standing: add -ing
Practice
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Origins
This is from Middle English standynge and Old English standende, the present participle of the verb meaning 'to stand', going back to Proto-Germanic *standaną. It is essentially 'stand' plus '-ing'.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Standing derives from Middle English standynge. en.wiktionary.org
- Its ancestry includes Old English standende. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English standende is the present participle of standan, meaning 'to stand'. en.wiktionary.org
- The word ultimately goes back to Proto-Germanic *standaną. en.wiktionary.org
- Standing is equivalent to stand plus -ing. en.wiktionary.org
Formed as 'stand' plus '-ing', it goes back to Old English *standung and Middle English standyng.