What does "stone" mean?
A hard earthen substance that can form rocks; especially, such substance when regarded as a building material.
Stone
/stəʊ̯n/ adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang
adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A hard earthen substance that can form rocks; especially, such substance when regarded as a building material.
- Grammar: stone is listed as adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: gemstone, pebble, pit, aa.
- Useful contrasts: beechen, clayey earths, claylike material.
- Usage evidence: "A rolling stone gathers no moss" is a proverb.
How to use "stone"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "stone" 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 "stone" 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 "stone" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "stone" 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 "stone" is acting as adj, adv, 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 "gemstone" 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 "stone", 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 hard earthen substance that can form rocks; especially, such substance when regarded as a building material. uncountable
"Toad, that vnder cold ſtone, / Dayes and Nights ha’s thirty one: / Sweltred Venom ſleeping got, / Boyle thou firſt i’th’ charmed pot."
- 2 building material consisting of a piece of rock hewn in a definite shape for a special purpose wordnet
- 3 A piece of such material: a rock or a pebble. countable
- 4 a lack of feeling or expression or movement wordnet
- 5 A gemstone, a jewel, especially a diamond. countable, uncountable
"[…]Ineſtimable Stones, vnvalewed Iewels[…]"
Show 15 more definitions
- 6 a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter wordnet
- 7 A unit of weight equal to 14 pounds (≈6.3503 kilograms), formerly used for various commodities (wool, cheese, etc.), but now principally used for personal weight. Abbreviated as st. British, countable, uncountable
"British people measure their weight in stones and pounds. I weigh eight stone five."
- 8 the hard inner (usually woody) layer of the pericarp of some fruits (as peaches or plums or cherries or olives) that contains the seed wordnet
- 9 The central part of some fruits, particularly drupes; consisting of the seed and a hard endocarp layer. countable, uncountable
"Near-synonym: pip"
- 10 an avoirdupois unit used to measure the weight of a human body; equal to 14 pounds wordnet
- 11 A hard, stone-like deposit. countable, uncountable
"The pain of passing a larger stone is often compared to child birth."
- 12 material consisting of the aggregate of minerals like those making up the Earth's crust wordnet
- 13 A playing piece made of any hard material, used in various board games such as backgammon and go. countable, uncountable
- 14 a crystalline rock that can be cut and polished for jewelry wordnet
- 15 A dull light grey or beige, like that of some stones. countable, uncountable
- 16 A 42-pound, precisely shaped piece of granite with a handle attached, which is bowled down the ice. countable, uncountable
- 17 A monument to the dead; a gravestone or tombstone. countable, uncountable
"Amid that scene, if ſome relenting eye Glance on the ſtone where our cold reliques lie."
- 18 A mirror, or its glass. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"She's dead as earth: Lend me a Looking-glaſſe; / If that her breath will miſt or ſtaine the ſtone, / Why then ſhe liues."
- 19 A testicle. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"[…]and yet I warrant it had vpon it brow, a bumpe as big as a young Cockrels ſtone?"
- 20 A stand or table with a smooth, flat top of stone, commonly marble, on which to arrange the pages of a book, newspaper, etc. before printing. countable, historical, uncountable
"The Chief called the makeup editor to the stone, pointed to the story which had caught his eye, and suggested a fairly simple remake."
Verb
- 1 To pelt with stones; especially, to kill by pelting with stones. transitive
"stoned to death"
- 2 remove the pits from wordnet
- 3 To wall or wall up with stones. transitive
"[…] and since it was a rule of the French troops not to be a burden on the people along their route it could be that the advance guard dug and stoned the well for the troop's own special use."
- 4 kill by throwing stones at wordnet
- 5 To remove a stone from (fruit etc.). transitive
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 To form a stone during growth, with reference to fruit etc. intransitive
- 7 Especially of cannabis or narcotics: To intoxicate. (Usually in passive) slang, transitive
- 8 To do nothing, to stare blankly into space and not pay attention when relaxing or when bored. Singapore, intransitive, slang
"I was stoning the whole of today."
- 9 To lap with an abrasive stone to remove surface irregularities. transitive
"Before they did the setup on the machining center, they stoned the table to knock down any nicked burrs."
Adjective
- 1 Constructed of stone. not-comparable
"stone walls"
- 2 Having the appearance of stone. not-comparable
"stone pot"
- 3 Of a dull light grey or beige, like that of some stones. not-comparable
- 4 Used as an intensifier. not-comparable
"She is one stone fox."
- 5 Willing to give sexual pleasure but not to receive it. not-comparable, slang
"stone butch"
Adjective
- 1 of any of various dull tannish or grey colors wordnet
Adverb
- 1 As a stone (used with following adjective). not-comparable
"My father is stone deaf. This soup is stone cold."
- 2 Absolutely, completely (used with following adjectives). not-comparable, slang
"I went stone crazy after she left."
Proper Noun
- 1 An English occupational and habitational surname from Old English, for someone who lived near a stone worked with stone, from Old English stan. countable
"Tucker Carlson (also a jacket and tie guy) picked up on the hoo-ha on his Fox News show, calling the hoodie-jacket combination a “cry for help” and inviting Roger Stone, the disgraced former political operative and author of his own “Best and Worst dressed List,” to comment."
- 2 A male given name. countable
- 3 A placename:; A locale in England:; A village in Stone with Bishopstone and Hartwell parish, Buckinghamshire, previously in Aylesbury Vale district (OS grid ref SP7811). countable, uncountable
- 4 A placename:; A locale in England:; A village in Ham and Stone parish, Stroud district, Gloucestershire (OS grid ref ST6895). countable, uncountable
- 5 A placename:; A locale in England:; A village and civil parish in Dartford borough, Kent (OS grid ref TQ5774). countable, uncountable
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 A placename:; A locale in England:; A hamlet in Maltby parish, Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire (OS grid ref SK5589). countable, uncountable
- 7 A placename:; A locale in England:; A market town and civil parish with a town council in Stafford borough, Staffordshire (OS grid ref SJ9034). countable, uncountable
- 8 A placename:; A locale in England:; A village and civil parish in Wyre Forest district, Worcestershire (OS grid ref SO8575). countable, uncountable
- 9 A placename:; A locale in the United States.; An unincorporated community in California. countable, uncountable
- 10 A placename:; A locale in the United States.; An unincorporated community in Indiana. countable, uncountable
- 11 A placename:; A locale in the United States.; An unincorporated community and coal town in Pike County, Kentucky; named for coal businessman Galen L. Stone. countable, uncountable
- 12 A placename:; A locale in the United States.; An unincorporated community in the town of Rutland, Dane County, Wisconsin. countable, uncountable
- 13 A placename:; Ellipsis of Stone County. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
Antonyms
Example
""A rolling stone gathers no moss" is a proverb."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "stone"?
Common synonyms include: gemstone, pebble, pit, aa, abyssal rock, acorn.
How do you use "stone" in a sentence?
"A rolling stone gathers no moss" is a proverb.
How do you pronounce "stone"?
Pronounced /stəʊ̯n/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English ston, stone, stan, from Old English stān, from Proto-West Germanic *stain, from Proto-Germanic *stainaz (“stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- (“to stiffen”). Cognates Cognate with Scots stane (“stone”), Yola sthoan (“stone”), North Frisian stean, stian, stiin, stiinj (“stone”), Saterland Frisian Steen (“stone”), West Frisian stien (“stone”), Alemannic German Steei (“rock, stone”), Bavarian Staa (“rock, stone”), Central Franconian Steen, Stään (“stone”), Dutch steen (“stone”), German Stein (“rock, stone”), German Low German Steen, Stein (“stone”), Luxembourgish Steen (“stone”), Vilamovian śtan (“stone”), Yiddish שטיין (shteyn, “stone”), Danish and Swedish sten (“stone”), Elfdalian stien (“stone”), Faroese steinur (“stone”), Gutnish stain (“rock, stone”), Icelandic steinn (“rock, stone”), Norwegian Bokmål stein, sten (“stone”), Norwegian Nynorsk steidn, stein (“stone”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (stains, “stone”). Compare also Ancient Greek στία (stía, “pebble”), στέαρ (stéar, “tallow”), Lithuanian sténgti (“to be able, make an effort; to oppose”), Russian стена́ (stená, “wall”), Albanian shtëng (“hardened or pressed matter”), Sanskrit स्तिया (stiyā, “still or stagnant water”). Doublet of stain, stean, and stein.
Etymology 2
From Middle English stonen, stanen, from Old English *stānian (“to stone”), from Proto-West Germanic *stainōn, from Proto-Germanic *stainōną (“to stone”). Cognate with Scots stane (“to stone”), German Low German stenen (“to stone”), Danish stene (“to stone”), Swedish stena (“to stone”), Faroese steina (“to stone”). Compare also Saterland Frisian stenigje (“to stone”), West Frisian stiennigje (“to stone”), Dutch stenigen (“to stone”), German steinigen (“to stone”).
Etymology 3
From stone. Doublet of Steen and Stein.
More for "stone"
Editorial Guides For "stone"
Professional Email Tone: Sound Clear, Polite, and Decisive
Practical phrase swaps to improve clarity and reduce friction in workplace emails.
De-escalation Language for Difficult Conversations
Use wording that lowers tension while preserving boundaries and forward progress.
Brand Voice Consistency: Keep Tone Unified Across Pages
Practical framework to keep product, marketing, and support copy aligned.