Standoff

How to spell standoff

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce standoff

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does standoff mean?

1. nounA situation in which two opposing sides are unable or unwilling to make any move, resulting in a deadlock.

Standoff in a sentence

• The pay dispute ended in a tense standoff between the union and management.

• Police negotiated for hours to resolve the armed standoff at the warehouse.

Where does standoff come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a compound formed inside English from the ordinary verb phrase 'to stand off', meaning to keep apart or hold at a distance. Both elements are native and very old: 'stand' descends from the Old English standan, 'to be upright or remain in place', and 'off' comes from of, an old form meaning 'away' or 'apart'. When the two were welded into a single noun in the nineteenth century, the literal sense of two parties standing apart hardened into the modern idea of a deadlock in which neither side will move or yield. The word later spread from physical confrontations to figurative ones, such as stalled negotiations or tied contests. Because it is simply 'stand' plus 'off', the only spelling point worth remembering is the doubled letters where the two words meet: the final d of 'stand' sits right next to the doubled f of 'off'.

How the word is built

• stand (to remain in place, from Old English standan)
• off (away, apart, from Old English of)