stand-down

1 of 2

noun

ˈstan(d)-ˌdau̇n 

: 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

Other delays surrounded bad weather present while teams were transporting the spacecraft to the launch site and a stand-down required to support a government high-priority range operation, Scheiman said. —Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 8 Mar. 2025

There had previously been a stand-down of Army aviation that followed the March 2023 collision of two Black Hawk helicopters at Fort Campbell that killed nine soldiers. —Luis Martinez, ABC News, 30 Jan. 2025

Verb

Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic and other countries have been deporting Haitian migrants back to their home country despite pleas from the United Nations to stand down over humanitarian concerns, according to Reuters. —Michelle Garcia, NBC news, 2 May 2025

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. would stop bombing the Houthis because the rebel group had agreed to stand down. —Luis Martinez, ABC News, 6 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1916, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1651, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Rhymes for stand-down

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown