stand
n. countablen. a strong opinion or position you take on an issue, especially one you are willing to defend. When you 'take a stand', you are making your beliefs clear.
n. a firm position or opinion on a particular issue, especially one that is publicly expressed or defended. It often appears in the collocation 'to take a stand'.
She takes a firm stand on environmental issues.
The committee had to take a stand against the new policy, despite the political pressure to approve it.
His refusal to sign the loyalty oath was not merely a political act but a moral stand, a declaration of individual conscience against the demands of the state.
From Middle English stonden, standen (verb) and stand, stond (noun, from the verb), from Old English standan (“to stand, occupy a place”), from Proto-West Germanic standan, from Proto-Germanic standaną (“to stand”), from Pre-Germanic sth₂-n-t-´, an innovative extended n-infixed form of Proto-Indo-European steh₂-. Cognates Cognate with Scots staund (“to stand”), Yola sthoan, sthoane, sthone, stoane (“to stand”), North Frisian staan, stoune, stuine, stun, stönje, stööne (“to stand”), Saterland Frisian stounde (“to stand”), Danish stande (“to stand”), Faroese and Icelandic standa (“to stand”), Norwegian Nynorsk standa, stå (“to stand”), Swedish stånda (“to stand”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (standan, “to stand”). From the related Proto-Germanic stāną (“to stand”): West Frisian stean (“to stand”), Alemannic German staa (“to stand”), Central Franconian stiehn, stohn, stonn (“to stand”), Cimbrian stean (“to stand”), Dutch staan (“to stand”), German stehen, stehn (“to stand”), Low German stahn, staon (“to stand”), Luxembourgish stoen (“to stand”), Vilamovian śtejn (“to stand”), Yiddish שטיין (shteyn, “to stand”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish stå (“to stand”), Faroese stá (“to stand”). Also from steh₂-: Breton and Cornish sevel (“to stand”), Welsh sefyll (“to stand”), Latin stō (“to stand”), Greek σταυρός (stavrós, “cross”), Albanian shtyllë (“pillar; column”), Latvian stāvēt (“to stand”), Lithuanian stóti, stovėti (“to stand”), Belarusian стая́ць (stajácʹ, “to stand”), Bulgarian стоя́ (stojá, “to stand, stay”), Czech stát (“to stand”), Macedonian стои (stoi, “to stand”), Polish stać, stojeć (“to stand”), Russian стоя́ть (stojátʹ, “to stand”), Serbo-Croatian ста̏јати, stȁjati (“to stand”), Slovak stáť (“to stand”), Slovene státi (“to stand”), Ukrainian стоя́ти (stojáty, “to stand”), Armenian ստվար (stvar, “large, thick; dense”), Ossetian стын (styn, “to stand up”), Northern Kurdish rawestîn (“to stand”), Persian ایستادن (istâdan), وایسادن (vâysâdan), وایستادن (vâystâdan, “to stand up”), Tocharian A ṣtäm- (“to stand”), Tocharian B stäm- (“to stand”), Sanskrit स्था (sthā, “to stand”).
From Middle English stand, stande, stond, stonde, stoonde, probably from Middle Dutch stande, from Old Dutch standan (“to stand”), from Frankish standan. Forms with -o- may show influence of stonden (“stand”, verb).
Most commonly used in the fixed phrase 'to take a stand'. It is often followed by the prepositions 'on' or 'against'.
take a stand about the issuetake a stand on the issueThe correct preposition to use after 'take a stand' to specify the topic is 'on', not 'about'.