stance

English

Etymology

Via French, from Italian stanza (“standing place”), from Latin stāre (“to stand”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /stɑːns/
• Rhymes: -ɑːns
• (US) IPA^(key): /stæns/
• Rhymes: -æns

Noun

stance (plural stances)

1. The manner, posture, or pose in which one stands.

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

2. One’s opinion or point of view.

   I don’t agree with your stance on gun control.

   • 2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in the Guardian^[1]:

     His stance as being against the world of finance and his proposal of a 75% tax on incomes over €1m (£817,000) was approved by a majority in polls. He was convinced that his more measured, if ploddingly serious, style would win out with an electorate tired of Sarkozy's bling and frenetic policy initiatives.

3. (Scotland) A station; a position; a site; a stopping place for buses at a bus station

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)

4. (obsolete) A stanza.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Chapman to this entry?)

Synonyms

• opinion
• position
• stand

Translations

manner, posture, or pose in which one stands

• Arabic: مَوْقِف‎ m (mawqif)
• Czech: postoj (cs) m
• Dutch: houding (nl) f
• Finnish: asento (fi)
• French: position (fr) f, posture (fr) f
• German: Einstellung (de) f, Positur f
• Italian: postura (it)

• Norwegian: kroppsholdning m
• Persian: روش ايستادن - طرز ايستادن‎ (Raveshe istadan)
• Portuguese: postura (pt) f, posição (pt) f
• Russian: по́за (ru) f (póza), сто́йка (ru) f (stójka), положе́ние (ru) n (položénije), пози́ция (ru) f (pozícija)
• Spanish: postura (es) f
• Swedish: kroppsställning c

opinion or point of view

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 立場 (zh), 立场 (zh) (lìchǎng), 姿態 (zh), 姿态 (zh) (zītài), 態度 (zh), 态度 (zh) (tàidù)

• Czech: postoj (cs) m, pohled (cs) m, názor (cs) m
• Dutch: standpunt (nl) n, opinie (nl) f
• Finnish: asenne (fi), asennoituminen, kanta (fi), näkökanta
• French: position (fr) f, attitude (fr) f
• German: Haltung (de) f, Einstellung (de) f, Verhältnis (de) n, Standpunkt (de) m, point de vue m
• Hungarian: állásfoglalás (hu)
• Italian: opinione (it) f, punto di vista (it) m, posizione (it) f

• Japanese: 立場 (ja) (たちば, tachiba), 姿勢 (ja) (しせい, shisei), 態度 (ja) (たいど, taido)
• Norwegian: standpunkt n
• Polish: stanowisko (pl) n
• Portuguese: postura (pt) f, posição (pt) f
• Russian: пози́ция (ru) f (pozícija), взгляд (ru) m (vzgljad), отноше́ние (ru) n (otnošénije), то́чка зре́ния (ru) f (tóčka zrénija)
• Scottish Gaelic: seasamh m
• Spanish: posición (es) f
• Swedish: ståndpunkt (sv) c
• Vietnamese: quan điểm (vi)

Further reading

• stance in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• stance in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• ascent, casten, enacts, secant