stadia

noun

sta·​dia ˈstā-dē-ə 

: a surveying method for determination of distances and differences of elevation by means of a telescopic instrument having two horizontal lines through which the marks on a graduated rod are observed

also : the instrument or rod

Examples of stadia in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Sweaty old football is the only content left which can compete with Taylor Swift, who, it should be noted, borrowed a loop of NFL stadia for her rocking sellout tour. —Jason Gay, WSJ, 5 Sep. 2023

Elite men’s clubs such as Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Barcelona whose traditions go back a century and more opened their doors to women, who now share the advantages of modern stadia, top-of-the-line training, development teams and coaching. —John Powers, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Aug. 2023

Unlike other previous hosts, the country had little soccer infrastructure in terms of stadia and training facilities, and there were concerns about the soaring temperatures for a tournament usually held in the summer. —Emma Ogao, ABC News, 18 Nov. 2022

In 2012, crowds of that size were an outlier, but in the past couple of years, women's games selling out the biggest stadia in the world is becoming more commonplace. —Asif Burhan, Forbes, 3 May 2023

Yet the problem isn’t solely with the diminishing value of TV deals, the problem lies in the league’s inability to build new stadia. —Emmet Gates, Forbes, 25 Jan. 2023

Of all the stadia that Qatar constructed for the 2022 World Cup, none gets the pulse racing like the 60,000-capacity Al Bayt, which is shaped like a monstrous Bedouin tent, complete with interior canopy decorated in traditional red and black sadu weave. —Time, 20 Nov. 2022

Tests will be run; helmets will be carbon-dated; archaeologists and academics will scour the ruins of old Twin Cities stadia. —Jason Gay, WSJ, 16 Jan. 2023

Thirty-seven of those deaths were directly linked to the construction of World Cup stadia, according to the investigation which has not independently been confirmed by ABC News. —Emma Ogao, ABC News, 18 Nov. 2022

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, "rod with graduated measurements," borrowed from Italian, probably borrowed from plural of New Latin stadium "stage, gradation," going back to Latin, "unit of length" — more at stadium

Note: According to several sources the word stadia in reference to a graduated rod was introduced by Piedmontese army engineers mapping the border between France and Savoy in 1816 (see M. Goulier, "Mémoire sur la stadia, et sur les instruments servant, conjointement avec elle, au mesurage des distances," Mémorial de l'Officier du Génie, no. 16, 2. série, tome 1 [1854], p. 156; A. Laussedat, Recherches sur les instruments, les méthodes et le dessin topographiques, tome 1 [Paris, 1898], pp. 166-67, citing Nicodemo Jadanza, Per la storia della celerimensura). The word appeared in the title of a report on this survey, "Rapport sur la stadia," written in 1822 by a staff officer, M. de Lostende, and published in the Mémorial du Dépôt général de la Guerre, tome 4 (1828). The Piedmontese army engineer and inventor of optical instruments Ignazio Porro (1801-75) traced the word directly to the ancient unit of length (see Le tachéometrie, ou lȧart de lever des plans et faireles nivellements, Paris, 1858, p. 265), though this seems somewhat improbable semantically.

First Known Use

1865, in the meaning defined above