What does "stock" mean?
A store or supply.
Stock
/stɑk/ adj, name, noun, verb
adj, name, noun, verb ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A store or supply.
- Grammar: stock is listed as adj, name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: broth, inventory, ability, abundance.
- Useful contrasts: empty trough, one-off event, unfilled.
- Usage evidence: Improving corporate performances are behind the stock market recovery.
How to use "stock"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "stock" 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 "stock" 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 "stock" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "stock" 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 "stock" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb 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 "broth" 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 "stock", 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 A store or supply. countable, uncountable
- 2 A thrust with a rapier; a stoccado.
- 3 any animals kept for use or profit wordnet
- 4 A store or supply.; A store of goods ready for sale; inventory. countable, uncountable
"We have a stock of televisions on hand."
- 5 an ornamental white cravat wordnet
Show 55 more definitions
- 6 A store or supply.; A supply of anything, stored until used; especially, such a supply that is ready for use. countable, uncountable
"Lay in a stock of wood for the winter season."
- 7 the merchandise that a shop has on hand wordnet
- 8 A store or supply.; Railroad rolling stock. countable, uncountable
"The Grand Trunk Railway had just purchased a large order of stock from the American Car and Foundry Company."
- 9 the handle end of some implements or tools wordnet
- 10 A store or supply.; A stack of undealt cards made available to the players. countable, uncountable
- 11 the handle of a handgun or the butt end of a rifle or shotgun or part of the support of a machine gun or artillery gun wordnet
- 12 A store or supply.; Farm or ranch animals; livestock. countable, uncountable
"Good ranchers must continually keep watch over the health of their stock."
- 13 lumber used in the construction of something wordnet
- 14 A store or supply.; The population of a given type of animal (especially fish) available to be captured from the wild for economic use. countable, uncountable
"The stocks of this fishery are recovering from overfishing, but the gains can easily reverse if our husbandry efforts lapse."
- 15 liquid in which meat and vegetables are simmered; used as a basis for e.g. soups or sauces wordnet
- 16 The capital raised by a company through the issue of shares; the total of shares held by an individual shareholder. countable, uncountable
"His grandpa had bought some stock in General Electric in 1905, and he refused to sell it ever after."
- 17 a special variety of domesticated animals within a species wordnet
- 18 The capital raised by a company through the issue of shares; the total of shares held by an individual shareholder.; The price or value of the stock of a company on the stock market. countable, uncountable
"When the bad news came out, the company's stock dropped precipitously."
- 19 the hereditary derivation of an individual wordnet
- 20 The capital raised by a company through the issue of shares; the total of shares held by an individual shareholder.; A share in a company. US, countable, especially, uncountable
- 21 any of various ornamental flowering plants of the genus Malcolmia wordnet
- 22 The capital raised by a company through the issue of shares; the total of shares held by an individual shareholder.; The measure of how highly a person or institution is valued. countable, figuratively, uncountable
"After that last screw-up of mine, my stock is pretty low around here."
- 23 any of several Old World plants cultivated for their brightly colored flowers wordnet
- 24 The capital raised by a company through the issue of shares; the total of shares held by an individual shareholder.; Any of several types of security that are similar to a stock, or marketed like one. countable, uncountable
- 25 a plant or stem onto which a graft is made; especially a plant grown specifically to provide the root part of grafted plants wordnet
- 26 The raw material from which things are made, such as feedstock.; Broth made from meat (originally bones) or vegetables, used as a basis for stew or soup. countable, uncountable
"They make beef stock from the butchery scraps that they otherwise might not have used."
- 27 persistent thickened stem of a herbaceous perennial plant wordnet
- 28 The raw material from which things are made, such as feedstock.; The type of paper used in printing. countable, uncountable
"The books were printed on a heavier stock this year."
- 29 the capital raised by a corporation through the issue of shares entitling holders to an ownership interest (equity) wordnet
- 30 The raw material from which things are made, such as feedstock.; Ellipsis of film stock. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
- 31 a supply of something available for future use wordnet
- 32 The raw material from which things are made, such as feedstock.; Plain soap before it is coloured and perfumed. countable, uncountable
- 33 a certificate documenting the shareholder's ownership in the corporation wordnet
- 34 Stock theater, summer stock theater. countable, uncountable
- 35 the reputation and popularity a person has wordnet
- 36 The trunk and woody main stems or limbs of a tree; the base from which something grows or branches. countable, uncountable
"Though the roote thereof waxe old in the earth, and the stocke thereof die in the ground: Yet through the sent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughes like a plant."
- 37 The trunk and woody main stems or limbs of a tree; the base from which something grows or branches.; The plant upon which the scion is grafted. countable, uncountable
"The cion overruleth the stock quite."
- 38 The trunk and woody main stems or limbs of a tree; the base from which something grows or branches.; Lineage; family; ancestry. broadly, countable, uncountable
"UUhat, ſhall I call thee brother? No, a foe, Monſter of Nature, ſhame vnto thy ſtocke, That darſt preſume thy Soueraigne for to mocke."
- 39 The trunk and woody main stems or limbs of a tree; the base from which something grows or branches.; Lineage; family; ancestry.; A larger grouping of language families: a superfamily or macrofamily. broadly, countable, uncountable
- 40 Any of the several species of cruciferous flowers in the genus Matthiola. countable, uncountable
- 41 A handle or stem to which the working part of an implement or weapon is attached.; The part of a rifle or shotgun that rests against the shooter's shoulder. countable, uncountable
"The most underrated component in building a custom gun is the metalsmithing. Stock work immediately attracts attention. Fancy checkering patterns, meticulously executed, are sure to elicit oohs and ahhs."
- 42 A handle or stem to which the working part of an implement or weapon is attached.; The handle of a whip, fishing rod, etc. countable, uncountable
- 43 Part of a machine that supports items or holds them in place.; The headstock of a lathe, drill, etc. countable, uncountable
- 44 Part of a machine that supports items or holds them in place.; The tailstock of a lathe. countable, uncountable
- 45 A bar, stick, or rod.; A ski pole. countable, uncountable
- 46 A bar, stick, or rod.; A bar going through an anchor, perpendicular to the flukes. countable, uncountable
"The honest, rough piece of iron, so simple in appearance, has more parts than the human body has limbs: the ring, the stock, the crown, the flukes, the palms, the shank. All this, according to the journalist, is “cast” when a ship arriving at an anchorage is brought up."
- 47 A bar, stick, or rod.; The axle attached to the rudder, which transfers the movement of the helm to the rudder. countable, uncountable
- 48 A bar, stick, or rod.; A pipe (vertical cylinder of ore) countable, uncountable
- 49 A type of (now formal or official) neckwear.; A necktie or cravat, particularly a wide necktie popular in the eighteenth century, often seen today as a part of formal wear for horse riding competitions. countable, uncountable
"He wore a brown tweed suit and a white stock. His clothes hung loosely about him as though they had been made for a much larger man. He looked like a respectable farmer of the middle of the nineteenth century."
- 50 A type of (now formal or official) neckwear.; A piece of black cloth worn under a clerical collar. countable, uncountable
- 51 A bed for infants; a crib, cot, or cradle countable, uncountable
- 52 A piece of wood magically made to be just like a real baby and substituted for it by magical beings. countable, uncountable
- 53 A cover for the legs; a stocking. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 54 A block of wood; something fixed and solid; a pillar; a firm support; a post. countable, uncountable
"When all our Fathers worſhip't Stocks and Stones,"
- 55 A person who is as dull and lifeless as a stock or post; one who has little sense. broadly, countable, obsolete, uncountable
"Let's be no stoics, nor no stocks."
- 56 The longest part of a split tally stick formerly struck in the exchequer, which was delivered to the person who had lent the king money on account, as the evidence of indebtedness. UK, countable, historical, uncountable
- 57 The frame or timbers on which a ship rests during construction. countable, in-plural, uncountable
- 58 Red and grey bricks, used for the exterior of walls and the front of buildings. UK, countable, in-plural, uncountable
- 59 In tectology, an aggregate or colony of individuals, such as trees, chains of salpae, etc. countable, uncountable
- 60 The beater of a fulling mill. countable, uncountable
"[…]a somewhat rude machine called the stocks, and consisting of a pair of wooden mallets, worked alternately by a cog wheel."
Verb
- 1 To have on hand for sale.
"The store stocks all kinds of dried vegetables."
- 2 put forth and grow sprouts or shoots wordnet
- 3 To provide with material requisites; to store; to fill; to supply.
"to stock a warehouse with goods"
- 4 have on hand wordnet
- 5 To allow (cows) to retain milk for twenty-four hours or more prior to sale.
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 provide or furnish with a stock of something wordnet
- 7 To put in the stocks as punishment.
"Poor Tom, that[…]eats cow-dung for sallets; swallows the old rat, and the ditch-dog; drinks the green mantle of the standing pool; who is whipp'd from tything to tything, and stock'd, punish'd, and imprison'd"
- 8 amass so as to keep for future use or sale or for a particular occasion or use wordnet
- 9 To fit (an anchor) with a stock, or to fasten the stock firmly in place.
- 10 supply with livestock wordnet
- 11 To arrange cards in a certain manner for cheating purposes; to stack the deck. dated
- 12 supply with fish wordnet
- 13 equip with a stock wordnet
Adjective
- 1 Of a type normally available for purchase/in stock. not-comparable
"stock items"
- 2 Having the same configuration as cars sold to the non-racing public, or having been modified from such a car. not-comparable
- 3 Straightforward, ordinary, just another, very basic. not-comparable
"He gave me a stock answer."
Adjective
- 1 repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse wordnet
- 2 regularly and widely used or sold wordnet
- 3 routine wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A village and civil parish in Chelmsford district, Essex, England, United Kingdom (OS grid ref TQ6998). countable, uncountable
- 2 A surname. countable, uncountable
"Speaking on the John Solomon Reports podcast this week, conservative activist and RiftTV contributor Sarah Stock attributed some of the divide to a generational split in how conservatives consume information."
- 3 Diminutive of Stockton (“personal name”). countable, diminutive, form-of, uncountable
Example
"Improving corporate performances are behind the stock market recovery."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "stock"?
Common synonyms include: broth, inventory, ability, abundance, acceptation, accepted.
How do you use "stock" in a sentence?
Improving corporate performances are behind the stock market recovery.
How do you pronounce "stock"?
Pronounced /stɑk/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English stok, from Old English stocc, from Proto-West Germanic *stokk, from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz (“tree-trunk”). Modern senses are mostly referring either to the trunk from which the tree grows (figuratively, its origin and/or support/foundation), or to a piece of wood, stick, or rod. The senses of "supply" and "raw material" arose from a probable conflation with steck (“an item of goods, merchandise”) or the use of split tally sticks consisting of foil or counterfoil and stock to capture paid taxes, debts or exchanges. Doublet of chock.
Etymology 2
From Italian stoccata.
Etymology 3
* As an English surname, from the noun stock (“stock, tree stump”). This sense is also found respectively in Dutch and German, and Slavic borrowings of them. Compare Stocker. * Also as an English surname, variant of Stoker. * (Stockton): Clipping of Stockton.