stand by
— phrasal verb with stand uk/stænd/us/stænd/verb stood, stood
(BE READY)
to be waiting and ready to do something or to help:
Cabin crew, please stand by for take-off.
See also
standby
More examples
- Police in riot gear were standing by in case the demonstration got out of control.
- The pilot told the cabin crew to stand by for take-off.
- I'll be standing by in case you need me for anything.
- Could you stand by in case I need help?
- Fire fighters were standing by in case of emergencies.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Waiting
- await
- hang
- hang around (somewhere)
- hang on
- hang round (somewhere)
- hold
- lounge
- mark time idiom
- mill
- mill around
- queue
- ready
- sit
- stand
- wait in
- wait list
- wait on sth
- wait sth out
- wait up
- wait list
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(DO NOTHING)
to allow something unpleasant to happen without doing anything to stop it:
We can't stand by while millions of people starve.
See also
bystander
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Avoiding action
- avoid
- avoid sth like the plague idiom
- avoidance
- bottle
- bottle out
- flinch
- flinch from sth/doing sth
- fudge
- get out of sth
- get-out clause
- insure
- shrink
- shy away from sth
- sit on your arse idiom
- skip out on sb/sth
- stand around
- stand round
- steer
- welch
- welsh
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