staid, adj. grave, serious, somber, sober, sedate, solemn; quiet, pensive, introspective, thoughtful; settled, steady-going, steady, sober-minded, sobersided, serious-minded; proper, formal, rigid, stiff, starched, prim, Inf. stuffy, Inf. tight, SI., Derog. nunny.
stain, n. 1. discoloration, spot, speck, mark, macu-lation, dot; patch, blotch, splotch, daub; smudge, smutch, smut, smirch, smear, blur; soil, dirt; flaw, imperfection, defacement, disfigurement, fault, defect.
2. blemish, taint, attaint, blot, blot on the escutcheon, tarnish; brand, stigma, shame, disgrace, dishonor, Inf. black eye.
3. dye, color, coloring, pigment, tint, Obs. tincture, Chem. reagent.
-v. 4. spot, soil, dirty, sully, smudge, smutch, smirch, besmirch; blotch, splotch, mark, speckle, maculate, ink; daub, bedaub, spatter, bespatter, sprinkle, splash, plash, draggle, drabble, Archaic, daggle; smear, slime, muck, bemire; discolor, rust, oxidize.
5. blemish, tarnish, blacken, blot; mar, damage, injure, hurt, spoil; brand, stigmatize, SI. dump on, drag through the mud or mire, heap dirt upon; impute, slur, asperse, vilify, scandalize; slander, calumniate, libel, denigrate, defame; disgrace, shame, dishonor, degrade, abase, debase, vitiate; corrupt, defile, contaminate, taint, pollute, foul.
6. dye, color, tint; imbue, imbrue.
stake1, n. 1. pale, picket, palisade, spike, pike, stick; post, upright, column, pillar, standard; rod, bar, peg, pin.
2. the stake death by fire or burning, auto-da-fd.
-v. 3. Often
stake out or
off mark, demarcate, define, outline, delineate, determine; limit, delimit, circumscribe, bound; possess, claim, reserve.
4. separate, close off, enclose, hem in, shut in, close in; pen, pen in, fence in, corral, Archaic, pound, impound, cage, confine; immure, wall in, imprison, embar, cloister; encompass, surround, girdle, picket.
5. support, brace, prop, stay, hold up.
6. tether, fetter, picket, hitch, tie, fasten; lash, moor, secure, make fast.
stake2, n. 1. wager, bet; ante, pot, jackpot; chance, long shot, SI. shot in the dark, risk, hazard, Obs. venture.
2. investment, share, interest, concern, involvement.
3. Often
stakes prizes, award, reward, winnings, purse, trophy; gain, profit, SI. take, returns; spoils, plunder, loot, booty.
4. at stake risked, at risk, gambled, invested; endangered, in danger, in jeopardy; involved, implicated, concerned, in question.
-v. 5. bet, put up collateral, put money on; gamble, wager, lay a wager, Obs. impone, Brit, punt; risk, take a chance, venture, hazard, jeopardize, imperil, endanger.
stale, adj. 1. unfresh, wilted, limp, withered, moldy; dry, hardened, hard; tasteless, savorless, bland, insipid, vapid, flat; sour, turned, spoiled; stuffy, musty, fusty, frowzy, close.
2. hackneyed, banal, trite, overdone, Inf. bromidic, platitudinous, Inf. corny; tired, thin, threadbare, shopworn, worn-out, played out, Inf. old hat, old, moth-eaten, warmed-over; unimaginative, unoriginal, insipid, uninspired; prosaic, prosy, dull, tedious, uninteresting, matter-of-fact; conventional, humdrum, commonplace, stock, overused, familiar, stereotyped; simple, fatuous, inane, feeble, wishy-washy.
3. weary, bored, vigorless, effete; uninitiative, uneffective, unproductive, useless.