steadfast

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English stedefast,^[2][3][4][5] inherited from Old English stedefæst (“secure in position, standing firm”),^{[6][7][2][3][8][9]} a compound of stede (“place, position”), the source of stead,^[6][7][2] and fæst (“firm, fixed”), the source of fast.^[6][7][2] Wiktionary reconstructs it as Proto-Germanic *stadifastuz.^[1] Similar compounds are Middle Low German stedevast and Old Norse staðfastr,^[6][7][9] as well as Middle Dutch stedevast and Danish stadfast.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, especially a soldier in battle, holding ground: in the Old English Battle of Maldon,^[7][10] where men "stódon stædefæste", stood unyielding.^[11] Dictionary.com dates the word to before 1000.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is physical: a man who does not give ground, and also a thing firmly fixed in place, such as a pillar.^[7][10] Old English could also apply it to a tree rooted to the spot and to steady weather.^[11] From the late 12th century it describes people unshaken in faith, resolution or friendship,^[7][6] and this has absorbed the older sense of the soldier standing firm.^[7][10] From 1258 it was also used of laws, treaties and institutions that were firmly settled.^[7] Middle English used it as an adverb as well,^[4] and it could mean unchanging of God (before 1400–1611),^[7][10] solid in substance (1477–1545)^[7][10] and, in Milton's Areopagitica (1644), confirmed in a bad sense, incorrigible.^[7][10] A rare verb, to make steadfast, is recorded from about 1450 to 1540.^[7] Johnson (1755) separated "fast in place; firm; fixed" from "constant; resolute",^[13] and today the main sense is firmness in belief, purpose or loyalty,^[14][5] with the spelling stedfast less common.^[5][14]

Timeline

• before 1000 – of a person, standing firm in battle; of a thing, firmly fixed.^[7][12]
• c. 1175 – of persons, unshaken in faith or purpose, in the Ormulum.^[7] Etymonline dates this to about 1200.^[6]
• 1258 – of a law or institution, firmly settled, in the Proclamation of Henry III.^[7]
• c. 1350 – adverb, resolutely or firmly.^[4]
• c. 1450 – verb, to make steadfast (last recorded 1540).^[7]
• 1644 – in a bad sense, confirmed, incorrigible, in Milton.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Firm and unwavering in belief, purpose or loyalty: She remained a steadfast supporter of the reform.^[14][5][7]
2. Firmly fixed in place; immovable.^[5][7][10]
3. Of a gaze, fixed in direction or intensity.^[14][10]
4. Firmly settled and not subject to change: a steadfast rule.^[5][7][10]
5. (obsolete, before 1400–1611) Of God, unchanging.^[7][10]
6. (obsolete, 1477–1545) Solid; firm in substance.^[7][10]

Adverb

1. (archaic) Steadfastly.^[5][10]

Word family

• steadfastly
• steadfastness
• oversteadfast
• unsteadfast

Related words

• stead
• fast
• steady
• instead

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
12. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins