# static

Pronunciation: say "STAT-ik" /ˈstæt.ɪk/

## Noun

1. Crackling on a radio or random speckling on a television picture, caused when atmospheric disturbances interfere with the broadcast signal.
   - Simple: Crackling noise on a radio or tiny spots on a TV picture, caused by conditions in the air.
   - _Lightning miles away filled the car radio with bursts of static._
   - _As the storm moved in, static broke up the announcer's voice._
2. Electric charge that builds up and stays on the surface of objects.
   - Simple: Electricity that builds up on the surface of things, such as your hair or clothes.
   - _Dryer sheets help reduce static in clothes._
   - _A spark of static jumped from her finger to the doorknob._
6. Interference or obstruction coming from other people.
   - Simple: Problems that other people make for you when you try to do something.
   - _The proposal met static from every department that stood to lose funding._
   - _She expected some static from the board, but the budget passed easily._
9. In programming, a variable whose storage stays allocated for the whole time a program runs.
   - Simple: In programming, a variable that keeps its place in memory for as long as the program runs.
   - _Some compilers handle statics badly when the same header is included in many files._
   - _The code review flagged a static that was never reset between tests._
10. Abusive or hostile talk aimed at someone. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: Rude or angry words that someone says to you.
   - _The umpire took a lot of static from the home crowd after the call._
   - _Kids at his new school gave him static about his accent._
11. A caravan that stays fixed on one site rather than being towed from place to place.
   - Simple: A large caravan, like a small home, that stays in one place and is not pulled by a car.
   - _The site has two hundred statics, a pool and a small shop._
   - _They sold the house and now live year-round in a static on a site near the beach._

## Adjective

3. Not changing, or unable to change.
   - Simple: Staying the same and not changing.
   - _Language is never static; new words appear every year._
   - _The company's static pay scale left workers without a raise for a decade._
4. Not moving; fixed in one place.
   - Simple: Not moving, or staying in one place.
   - _The midfielders were too static, waiting for the ball instead of running into space._
   - _A static display of old aircraft stood beside the runway._
5. Stuck at a standstill and making no headway or progress.
   - Simple: Not moving forward or getting any better.
   - _Peace negotiations remained static through the winter._
   - _The front line stayed static for months as neither army could advance._
7. Computed, created, or allocated before a program starts running, rather than while it runs.
   - Simple: In computer programs, worked out or set up before the program starts, not while it runs.
   - _Static type checking catches many errors at compile time, before any code runs._
   - _Memory for static data is reserved when the program is loaded, not requested at runtime._
8. Belonging to a class itself rather than to its instances, and so shared by all of them and usable even when no instance exists.
   - Simple: In programming, belonging to a class as a whole, so every object of that class shares it.
   - _Because the field is static, changing it in one object changes it for every instance of the class._
   - _Java programs start from a static main method, which can run before any object of the class has been created._

## Origin

From Modern Latin staticus, from Ancient Greek statikós, from hístēmi (“to make stand”). By surface analysis, it is stasis + -tic.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/static (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).