What does "stem" mean?
The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
Stem
/stɛm/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
- Grammar: stem is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: stalk, accidence, accrue from, adjutage.
- Useful contrasts: biological root, blades, cloveroot.
- Usage evidence: Scientists are fighting to stem the spread of the AIDS virus.
How to use "stem"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "stem" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "stem" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "stem" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "stem" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "stem" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "stalk" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "stem", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
"Where ye may all that are of noble ſtemm / Approach, and kiſs her ſacred veſtures hemm."
- 2 Alternative form of steem. alt-of, alternative
- 3 Alternative form of STEM. alt-of, alternative
"Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields are a particular cause for concern because within them there are more pronounced stereotypes, extreme competitiveness and gender inequities regarding the abilities and competencies of black male and female students."
- 4 Alternative spelling of stemme (“lesbian who combines stud and femme traits”). alt-of, alternative
- 5 Acronym of scanning transmission electron microscope. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable
Show 25 more definitions
- 6 a turn made in skiing; the back of one ski is forced outward and the other ski is brought parallel to it wordnet
- 7 A branch of a family.
"This is a stem / Of that victorious stock."
- 8 Acronym of science, technology, engineering, (and) mathematics. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
"Although these six classifications of the scope and responsibility and specific engineering expertise are interesting and useful, they come from within engineering itself and they don’t help us to disentangle STEM."
- 9 front part of a vessel or aircraft wordnet
- 10 A branch of a family.; A branch, or group of branches, located outside a family or other cladistic group, but which is more closely related to that group than to any other taxon of the same rank.
- 11 cylinder forming a long narrow part of something wordnet
- 12 An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
"Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years."
- 13 the tube of a tobacco pipe wordnet
- 14 The above-ground stalk (technically axis) of a vascular plant, and certain anatomically similar, below-ground organs such as rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, and corms.
"After they are shot up thirty feet in length, they spread a very large top, having no bough nor twig in the trunk or the stem."
- 15 (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed wordnet
- 16 A slender supporting member of an individual part of a plant such as a flower or a leaf; also, by analogy, the shaft of a feather.
"the stem of an apple or a cherry"
- 17 a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or fungus or a plant part or plant organ wordnet
- 18 A narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon.
- 19 The main part of an uninflected word to which affixes may be added to form inflections of the word. A stem often has a more fundamental root. Systematic conjugations and declensions derive from their stems.
"The praenomen and nomen for the most part consisted of simple stems with the suffix -us or -ius, which correspond to some of the contracted forms in other languages […]."
- 20 A person's leg. slang
"She was perfectly, fuckably proportioned everywhere else, both above and below her waist. A pocket-size Venus, with the longest stems he'd ever seen on someone so dang diminutive."
- 21 The penis. slang
"Waves of ecstasy roll through him as the moustachioed Casanova slides his stem in and out of the spaced-out chick."
- 22 A vertical stroke of a letter.
- 23 A vertical stroke marking the length of a note in written music.
- 24 A premixed portion of a track for use in audio mastering and remixing.
"Stem mastering processes a mix by breaking it down into several manageable pieces—that is, stereo stems. The stem approach allows the mastering engineer the opportunity to make larger or smaller changes to separate mix elements before the final compression and limiting are applied to the complete mix."
- 25 The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.
- 26 The front part of a vessel. broadly
"from stem to stern"
- 27 A component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork.
- 28 A part of an anatomic structure considered without its possible branches or ramifications.
- 29 A crack pipe; or the long, hollow portion of a similar pipe (i.e. meth pipe) resembling a crack pipe. slang
- 30 A winder on a clock, watch, or similar mechanism. British
Verb
- 1 To remove the stem from.
"to stem cherries; to stem tobacco leaves"
- 2 To stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood). transitive
"to stem a tide"
- 3 remove the stem from wordnet
- 4 To be caused or derived; to originate.
"The current crisis stems from the short-sighted politics of the previous government."
- 5 To move the feet apart and point the tips of the skis inward in order to slow down the speed or to facilitate a turn.
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 stop the flow of a liquid wordnet
- 7 To descend in a family line.
- 8 To use a stance with the feet spread apart, bracing them in opposite directions against the two walls of a chimney or dihedral.
- 9 grow out of, have roots in, originate in wordnet
- 10 To direct the stem (of a ship) against; to make headway against.
"Nor is the pre-eminent tremendousness of the great Sperm Whale anywhere more feelingly comprehended, than on board of those prows which stem him."
- 11 cause to point inward wordnet
- 12 To hit with the stem of a ship; to ram. obsolete
"As when two warlike Brigandines at sea, / With murdrous weapons arm'd to cruell fight, / Doe meete together on the watry lea, / They stemme ech other with so fell despight, / That with the shocke of their owne heedlesse might, / Their wooden ribs are shaken nigh a sonder […]"
- 13 To ram (clay, etc.) into a blasting hole.
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"Scientists are fighting to stem the spread of the AIDS virus."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "stem"?
Common synonyms include: stalk, accidence, accrue from, adjutage, advance, affiliation.
How do you use "stem" in a sentence?
Scientists are fighting to stem the spread of the AIDS virus.
How do you pronounce "stem"?
Pronounced /stɛm/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English stem, stemme, stempne, stevin, from Old English stemn, from Proto-West Germanic *stamni, from Proto-Germanic *stamniz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, stay”).
Etymology 2
From Middle English stemmen, a borrowing from Old Norse stemma (“to stop, stem, dam”) (whence Danish stemme/stæmme (“to stem, dam up”)), from Proto-Germanic *stammijaną. Cognate with German stemmen, Middle Dutch stemmen, stempen. Compare stammer.
Etymology 3
Acronym of science, technology, engineering, (and) mathematics.
Etymology 4
Blend of stud + femme.