Stationary

How to spell stationary

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce stationary

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does stationary mean?

1. adjectiveNot moving; remaining fixed in one position.

Stationary in a sentence

• The car remained stationary at the traffic lights.

• Keep the camera stationary for a sharp photo.

• The exercise bike has a stationary wheel.

• Traffic was completely stationary for an hour.

• The car ahead had been stationary for ten minutes.

Where does stationary come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin stationarius, meaning 'belonging to a military station' or 'remaining in one place', which was built on statio (stem stationem), 'a standing still' or 'a post', itself rooted in the verb stare, 'to stand'. In medieval Latin the related noun stationarius came to describe a tradesman who kept a fixed shop rather than travelling around, and that is the origin of the closely spelled 'stationery' (writing materials), because such fixed-shop traders often sold paper and books. English adopted 'stationary' in the adjective sense of 'not moving' during the late 1300s and 1400s. The shared root with 'station', 'stable', and 'stand' all reaches back to that same idea of standing in place. The spelling trap is the ending: 'stationary' (with an a) means standing still, while its homophone 'stationery' (with an e) means writing paper, so remembering 'a' for 'at rest' helps keep them apart.

How the word is built

• station (fixed place)
• -ary

Words that sound like stationary

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• stationery: Paper, envelopes, pens, and other materials used for writing and office work.