stand down

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

Meeting that challenge demands permanent inter-governmental coordination units and not the current model of temporary structures standing down the moment a crisis ends. —Daniele Nyirandutiye, semafor.com, 1 June 2026

Despite standing down as chairman, Powell is continuing as a Fed governor. —Hugh Leask, CNBC, 1 June 2026

Having now lost at trial and on appeal from improperly shutting out Blakeman from the state Public Campaign Finance Board program, the Dems should stand down and get on with gubernatorial campaigning and end the games. —New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 29 May 2026

But California is far from standing down. —Deputy Managing Editor, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

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