stand for

1. 1.

   express indirectly by an image, form, or model; be a symbol

   “What does the Statue of Liberty symbolize?”

   Synonymstypifysymbolizesymboliserepresent

   Broadermean

   Narrowerembodytypify
2. 2.

   denote or connote

   “`maison' means `house' in French”

   “An example sentence would show what this word means”

   Synonymsmeanintendsignify

   Narrowerdenote
3. 3.

   take the place of or be parallel or equivalent to

   “Because of the sound changes in the course of history, an `h' in Greek stands for an `s' in Latin”

   Synonymsrepresentcorrespond

   Broaderequal
4. 4.

   tolerate or bear

   “I won't stand for this kind of behavior!”

   Synonymshold still for

   Broaderdigest

Questions about stand for

What does stand for mean?

stand for means "express indirectly by an image, form, or model; be a symbol". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for stand for?

Close synonyms include typify, symbolize, symbolise, represent, mean. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is stand for a common word?

stand for is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.