Steady Meaning

/ˈstɛdi/
B1

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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adjFirm in standing or position; not tottering or shaking; fixed; firm.

adjConstant in feeling, purpose, or pursuit; not fickle, changeable, or wavering; not easily moved or persuaded to alter a purpose; resolute.

Steady the boat so we can get on safely.
Slow and steady wins the race.
We've had five years of steady economic growth.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The carpenter used a clamp to keep the board ____ while he sawed it.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You need a very ____ hand to perform the delicate task of painting the tiny details on the model car.

From Middle English stedy, studi, stidiȝ, perhaps continuing Old English stæþþiġ, ġestæþþiġ (“steadfast, stable, firm, staid”), equivalent to stead + -y; or calquing Middle Low German or Middle Dutch stēdig. Cognate with Saterland Frisian stoadig (“steady”), West Frisian stadich (“slow”), Danish stedig, stadig, steeg, Swedish stadig, Icelandic stöðugur, German stätig, stetig. Compare also Old English ġestedegian (“to bring to a standstill”) and Dutch steeds (“more and more”). Adjective sense 8 is a semantic loan from Singapore Hokkien 在 (chāi, “confident, skilled”, literally “steady”).

"Their feet steady, their hands diligent, their eyes watchful, and their hearts resolute." — a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:
"But then I had the flintlock by me for protection. ¶ There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window,[…]." — 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
"When I went to Harrow, thirty years ago, I found a winter evening game in force there, called 'high cockalorum,' […] The players used to divide into two opposing bands of from twelve to fourteen each – in fact, the more the merrier. One side 'went down,' so as to constitute a long 'hogsback' – the last boy having a couple of pillows between himself and the wall, and each boy clasping his front rank man, and carefully tucking his own 'cocoa-nut' [i.e., head] under his right arm, so as to prevent fracture of the vertebrae. When the hogsback was thus formed, the other side came on, leapfrogging on to the backs of those who were down, the best and the steadiest jumpers being sent first. […]" — 1890 January 4, Pall Mall Gazette, London: J. K. Sharpe, →OCLC, page 2, column 1:
"Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do." — 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
"Jenny also used a much more advanced form of wave generation: instead of using a bow string, he was able to create cymatoscopes using piezoelectric generators that could be regulated electronically and could produce steadier wave displacements than any of Jenny’s predecessors." — 2010, Stephen D. Lewis, Seeing Sound: Hans Jenny and the Cymatic Atlas, page 17:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The carpenter used a clamp to keep the board ____ while he sawed it.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You need a very ____ hand to perform the delicate task of painting the tiny details on the model car.

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