stand-down

1 of 2

noun

: a relaxation of status of a military unit or force from an alert or operational posture

stand down

2 of 2

verb

stood down; standing down; stands down

intransitive verb

1
: to leave the witness stand
2
chiefly British
a
: to go off duty
b
: to withdraw from a contest, a position of leadership, or a state of alert or readiness

transitive verb

: to remove from active duty
In December of 1944, it was judged safe to stand down the Home Guard … after four and a half years of guarding Britain against invasion.Anthony Bailey

Examples of stand-down in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The Marine Corps acting commandant, Eric Smith, on Monday issued a two-day stand-down to take place at some point this week for all aviation units both inside and outside of the United States, a spokesman told ABC News. Ellie Kaufman, ABC News, 18 Sep. 2023 The decision to stand-down all aircraft also comes after two deadly Marine Corps crashes last month. Phil McCausland, NBC News, 18 Sep. 2023 Military officials in April ordered a 24-hour stand-down of all aviation units following two deadly mid-air helicopter collisions within 30 days. Matt Seyler, ABC News, 13 June 2023 In response to both incidents, the Army issued a service-wide stand-down for aviation units to complete mandatory safety training. Louis Casiano, Fox News, 3 May 2023 Army leadership on Friday ordered an aviation stand-down after two fatal helicopter crashes, the most recent of which killed three soldiers and injured a fourth in Alaska on Thursday. Phil Helsel, NBC News, 29 Apr. 2023 Army National Guard and Reserve units will have until May 31 to carry out their stand-downs. Luis Martinez, ABC News, 28 Apr. 2023
Verb
Oprah Winfrey is standing down from the board of WW International, also known as WeightWatchers, and the reason why has to do with her use of weight loss medication—probably. Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 29 Feb. 2024 However, the lawmakers stood down when Republican leaders promised them discussions on any reforms to the program. Ken Tran, The Courier-Journal, 23 Feb. 2024 Shane Rose was stood down from competitions temporarily for wearing a mankini at an event in New South Wales earlier this month, throwing his participation at Paris 2024 into jeopardy. George Ramsay, CNN, 19 Feb. 2024 The family also called on other sailors and anyone not affiliated with the official investigation to stand down in their searches and thanked the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force and Coast Guard for their investigations. Sharif Paget, CNN, 26 Feb. 2024 He was ordered to stand down, and his investigation came to nothing. Joel Khalili, WIRED, 26 Feb. 2024 On Saturday, the couple’s children, Bryan Hendry and Nick Buro, released a joint statement thanking the community for their help — and asking them to stand down in the search. Lizzie Johnson, Washington Post, 24 Feb. 2024 Hwangbo added during the meeting that Klinsmann, who had refused to stand down ahead of World Cup qualifying games next month, had said that the infighting affected the performance of the players against Jordan. John Duerden, USA TODAY, 16 Feb. 2024 The launch was originally scheduled to take place Wednesday, but a glitch with the rocket’s methane fuel forced SpaceX to stand down. Denise Chow, NBC News, 15 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stand-down.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1916, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1651, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of stand-down was in 1651

Dictionary Entries Near stand-down

stand down

stand-down

stand-easy

Cite this Entry

“Stand-down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stand-down. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

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