Etymologically
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withstand

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Pronunciation

  • /wɪðˈstænd/, /wɪθˈstænd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English withstonden, also withstanden,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English wiþstandan (“to resist, oppose”),[5][6][7] formed from wiþ (“against”) and standan (“to stand”);[7][4][8] see with and stand.[5][9] Similar compounds are Old Frisian withstonda and Old Norse viðstanda,[5][9][10][4] with Old Saxon wiðarstandan, Old High German widarstān and German widerstehen.[5][7] Etymonline and Barnhart suggest that the English word and its relatives were perhaps influenced by, or translated, Latin resistō (“to resist”), and Barnhart takes the German verb as a probable loan translation of the Latin.[7][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To stand against, resist or oppose a person or a person's will: in Old English, before 899, in King Alfred's translation of Boethius.[5][10] Bosworth–Toller glosses it "to withstand, resist", with uses of a people offering a stout resistance, and also "to be a match for, refute" and "to stand in the way, obstruct, prevent".[6]

Semantic evolution

The core sense of resisting a person, a force or an attack has lasted from Old English to the present, often with the idea that the resistance succeeds.[5][3] From before 1400 it was used of material things, as of a wall that withstands a blow,[5] and since 1725, in Defoe, of resisting an attraction or temptation.[5] Several Middle English senses died out: to refuse a person something, to prevent (until 1581), to keep away or withhold, and to contradict or deny (1513–1581);[5] an intransitive sense "to come to a stand, halt" is found only between about 1325 and 1450.[5] Chaucer used the verb 32 times and Gower 18, for "oppose, resist, obstruct".[11] In the 14th and early 15th centuries withsit was used with the same meaning,[7] and Johnson (1755) glossed the verb as "to gainstand; to oppose; to resist".[12]

Timeline

  • before 899 – to resist or oppose a person, in Alfred's Boethius.[5][10]
  • Old English – intransitive, to offer resistance.[5]
  • c. 1200 – Middle English withstanden, in Vices and Virtues.[10]
  • c. 1385 – to stand in the way of, hinder (obsolete by 1825), in Chaucer.[5]
  • before 1400 – of a material thing, to stand up to.[5]
  • 1513 – to contradict or deny (obsolete by 1581).[5]
  • 1725 – to resist an attraction or temptation, in Defoe.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To stand up to something and remain undamaged; to endure or hold out against: The bridge was built to withstand earthquakes.[13][3][5]
  2. To resist or oppose a person, a force or an attack, especially successfully.[13][3][5]
  3. To resist an influence or temptation.[5][3]
  4. To remain firm in endurance or opposition.[13][5]

Word family

  • withstander
  • withstandingness

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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)
  3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins