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standoff

noun · adjective · verb

Simple meaning

A deadlocked confrontation between antagonists.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

standawf

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈstændɔf

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A deadlocked confrontation between antagonists.

  2. A device which maintains a fixed distance between two objects, especially between a surface and a sign or electrical wiring.

adjective

  1. military

    For use at a distance sufficient from the target to allow defensive fire to be evaded.

verb

  1. Nonstandard spelling of stand off.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A deadlocked confrontation between antagonists.

Used this way, standoff is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

standoff distancenuclear standoffday standofftense standoffmilitary standoffstandoff ratiolong standoffpolitical standoff

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • mexican standoffnounCompound term

    A situation in which no one can emerge as a clear winner.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.