variant of stanch entry 1
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Staunch and Stanch
Both stanch and staunch come from the Anglo-French estancher, meaning “to check or stop the flowing of.” Both have been in use for many hundreds of years. And most dictionaries will list them as having the exact same meaning. They are, in fact, variants of each other. But there's a catch: staunch is more commonly used as an adjective (it has several meanings in this role, including “steadfast in loyalty or principle” and "substantial"), and stanch is more commonly used as a verb (common meanings are "to check or stop the flowing of" and "to stop or check in its course"). Here are example of each in typical use:
a staunch supporter/advocate
staunch resistance/allegiance
to stanch the flow/bleeding
stanching the loss of jobs/revenue
Note that saying that something is more commonly used in some way does not necessarily mean that people who choose to use it in the less common way are wrong. There is a considerable body of evidence, from reputable sources, of staunch and stanch being used in their less common roles.
Some people will tell you that you should always keep these words apart, and if you’d like to do this you may find the following sentence of some assistance in helping you to remember the difference: "A staunch friend would help you stanch a bleeding thumb."
Alternatively, you may rely on the time-honored method of people-who-remember-things-poorly and use this limerick:
Tho’ neither stanch nor staunch must conform
To rigid semantical norm
Some editors will blanch,
When encountering stanch
If it’s used in adjective form
Synonyms
Examples of staunch in a Sentence
C. Isaiah Smalls Ii, Miami Herald, 29 Mar. 2024
Meanwhile, Republican opposition to higher taxes of any kind remains staunch.
—Julie Zauzmer Weil, Washington Post, 27 Mar. 2024
Likud long prided itself on combining staunch Jewish nationalism, even militarism, with a commitment to liberal democracy.
—Anshel Pfeffer, The Atlantic, 27 Mar. 2024
Rankin is well-known for her staunch isolationist beliefs.
—Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY, 27 Mar. 2024
Kejriwal has a reputation as one of the staunchest critics of the Indian prime minister and the ruling BJP.
—Sania Farooqui, CNN, 21 Mar. 2024
Horne, a Republican and staunch supporter of English-only immersion programs, has been waging a battle against dual language programs since he was elected to lead the Arizona Department of Education in 2022.
—Daniel Gonzalez, The Arizona Republic, 20 Mar. 2024
Paxton has been a staunch supporter of Trump, including the former president’s attempts to overturn his own 2020 election loss, and Trump is helping Paxton in his primary campaign.
—Nicholas Riccardi, The Denver Post, 29 Feb. 2024
While the Czech Republic and Poland are united in staunch support for Ukraine, including arms deliveries, Hungary and Slovakia have sharply different views.
—Karel Janicek, Quartz, 27 Feb. 2024
TIME, 2 Apr. 2024
On Monday, amid enormous pressure to do something to staunch the violence in Port-au-Prince, Henry did announce his resignation.
—Caitlin Stephen Hu, CNN, 15 Mar. 2024
In an effort to staunch the exodus of home insurers fleeing the state, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Thursday unveiled a proposal for letting those insurers use computer models of possible future catastrophes to justify rate increases.
—John Woolfolk, The Mercury News, 14 Mar. 2024
Three cinematic luminaries — Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Martin Scorsese — met with WBD CEO David Zaslav to try to staunch the bleeding.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 7 Aug. 2023
On Monday, amid enormous pressure to staunch the violence, Henry stepped down.
—Ray Sanchez, CNN, 17 Mar. 2024
As Marie falls to the floor, hyperventilating, her father rushes in, trying to staunch his wife's bleeding wound.
—Alex Raiman, EW.com, 29 Sep. 2023
The Nvidia chief has previously warned that an escalation in US sanctions, designed to staunch the flow of AI training chips to China, could drive local firms to develop their own alternatives.
—Jane Lanhee Lee, Fortune, 25 Jan. 2024
His successor, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, has struggled to staunch the violence.
—Rosa Flores, CNN, 6 Sep. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'staunch.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Adjective
Middle English staunche, stanch "watertight, solidly made, in good repair," borrowed from Anglo-French estanc, feminine estaunche "stanched (of blood), watertight," derivative of estancher "to stop (blood from flowing), (of a wound) stop bleeding, (of water) be stanched, dry up" — more at stanch entry 1
Articles Related to staunch
Dictionary Entries Near staunch
Cite this Entry
“Staunch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/staunch. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
staunch
1 of 2variant of stanch entry 1
staunch
2 of 2 adjective
Medical Definition
staunch
variant of stanch
More from Merriam-Webster on staunch
Nglish: Translation of staunch for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of staunch for Arabic Speakers
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