stand-down

noun

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\ ˈstan(d)-ˌdau̇n

Definition of stand-down

(Entry 1 of 2)

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

stand down

verb

stood down; standing down; stands down

Definition of stand down (Entry 2 of 2)

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: Verb But after about a half-hour of debate, which played out on body camera footage obtained by The Baltimore Sun, law enforcement decided to stand down and let services continue. — Christine Condon, baltimoresun.com, 4 June 2021 But the city must stand down the shelter and return the Sullivan to its original purpose by the end of September. — Emily Goodykoontz, Anchorage Daily News, 21 May 2021 For both Israel and Hamas, crafting a victory narrative is a crucial prelude to any move to stand down. — Hana Salah, Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2021 Despite agents reporting gunfire, Leonnig writes they were told by superiors to stand down. — Edward Segal, Forbes, 17 May 2021 Kennedy, of course, had forced the USSR to stand down. — Andre Pagliarini, The New Republic, 16 Apr. 2021 After initially resisting, Paterson agreed to stand down. — New York Times, 13 Apr. 2021 In March, the Anchorage Assembly passed a resolution requesting that the acting mayor’s administration come up with a transition plan to stand down the shelter. — Emily Goodykoontz, Anchorage Daily News, 7 May 2021 Kyiv would like Washington to supply it with more military aid, but some experts said what would help Ukraine more would be a unified political strategy with European allies aimed at raising the international pressure on Moscow to stand down. — Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'stand-down.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.