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steady

adjective · verb · noun

Simple meaning

Constant in feeling, purpose.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

stehdee

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈstɛdi

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.

adjective

  1. Constant in feeling, purpose, or pursuit; not fickle, changeable, or wavering; not easily moved or persuaded to alter a purpose; resolute.

  2. Firm in standing or position; not tottering or shaking; fixed; firm.

  3. Regular and even.

  4. Phlegmatic, calm; not easily upset, excited, or disturbed.

  5. Smooth and not bumpy or with obstructions.

verb

  1. intransitive

    To become stable.

noun

  1. A rest or support, as for the hand, a tool, or a piece of work.

  2. informal

    A regular boyfriend or girlfriend.

  3. informal

    A prostitute's regular customer.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Constant in feeling, purpose, or pursuit; not fickle, changeable, or wavering; not easily moved or persuaded to alter a purpose; resolute.

Used this way, steady 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
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

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

More ways to use steady

  • “He has a steady job that provides a good income for his family.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Constant

steady pace

Confident

steady stream

Rest

steady hand

Other combinations

steady statesteady flowsteady growthsteady progresssteady rate

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • steadilyadverbDerived adverb

    At a steady rate or pace.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • steady downverbCompound term

    Become settled or established and stable in one's residence or life style.

  • steady state theorynounCompound term

    The theory that the universe maintains a constant average density with matter created to fill the void left by galaxies that are receding from each other.

  • go steadyverbCompound term

    Date regularly.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: constant in feeling or purpose or or pursuit

constantstableinvariantinvariableunshakableunvarying

Antonyms

adjective

Sense: constant in feeling or purpose or or pursuit

unsteady

verb

Sense: to become stable

unsteady

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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.