Stool

/stuːl/ noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.; A seat for one person without a back or armrests.
  • Grammar: stool is listed as noun, verb.
  • Nearest alternatives: defecate, fecal matter, feces, babble.
  • Useful contrasts: armchair, bench, couch.
  • Usage evidence: A man came in and sat on the stool next to her.

How to use "stool"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "stool" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. 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 "stool" 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 "stool" as the right word for your sentence.

If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "stool" 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 "stool" is acting as 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 "defecate" 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 "stool", 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. 1
    A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.; A seat for one person without a back or armrests. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    Alternative form of stole (“plant from which layers are propagated by bending its branches into the soil; stolon.”). alt-of, alternative, rare

    "The process of layering is well known: it consists in bending a young branch […] into the soil to a certain depth, and elevating the top part of it out of the soil in an upright direction; in time the buried part takes root, and the shoot becomes a perfect plant. The root which produces the young shoots for layering is called the stool. Stools are planted about six feet apart every way in a deep fresh soil. […] Stool. – The root of a tree which has been left in the ground, the produce of another tree, or shoot for saplings, underwood, &c."

  3. 3
    a simple seat without a back or arms wordnet
  4. 4
    A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.; A footstool. countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    a plumbing fixture for defecation and urination wordnet
Show 12 more definitions
  1. 6
    A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.; A seat with a back; a chair. Scotland, countable, dialectal, uncountable
  2. 7
    (forestry) the stump of a tree that has been felled or headed for the production of saplings wordnet
  3. 8
    A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.; A throne. Scotland, countable, dialectal, figuratively, literally, uncountable
  4. 9
    solid excretory product evacuated from the bowels wordnet
  5. 10
    A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.; A royal seat; a chief's throne. Africa, West, countable, uncountable
  6. 11
    A close-stool; a seat used for urination and defecation: a chamber pot, commode, outhouse seat, or toilet. countable, dated, uncountable
  7. 12
    A plant that has been cut down until its main stem is close to the ground, resembling a stool, to promote new growth. countable, uncountable

    "The ground in almost every part of it is covered with stools or stems of Oak, at not more than three feet stool from stool, and these not having been thinned since last cutting, are completely overburdened, and are evidently killing each other and dying for want of nourishment […]"

  8. 13
    Feces, excrement. countable, uncountable

    "I provided the doctor with stool samples."

  9. 14
    A production of feces or excrement, an act of defecation, stooling. countable, uncountable

    "Normal stooling is widely variant. Some infants only have one stool per day, especially those on formula feeding. Others may stool with each feeding. Such frequent stooling is common in breast-fed infants during the first month of life."

  10. 15
    A decoy; a portable piece of wood to which a pigeon is fastened to lure wild birds. archaic, countable, uncountable
  11. 16
    A small channel on the side of a vessel, for the deadeyes of the backstays. countable, uncountable

    "the fore backstay deadeyes and stool had to be lowered 2 feet"

  12. 17
    Material, such as oyster shells, spread on the sea bottom for oyster spat to adhere to. US, countable, dialectal, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To produce stool: to defecate.

    "Infrequent stooling in the first month of life is almost always due to insufficient intake of milk. A baby who is voiding but not stooling or gaining weight may not be receiving enough high fat hindmilk. Stooling frequency will correct itself with additional feeds or making sure the infant receives more hind milk at a feed."

  2. 2
    To ramify; to tiller, as grain; to shoot out suckers.

    "I worked very hard in the copse of young ash, with my billhook and a shearing-knife; cutting out the saplings where they stooled too close together, making spars to keep for thatching, wall-crooks to drive into the cob, stiles for close sheep hurdles, and handles for rakes, and hoes, and two-bills, of the larger and straighter stuff."

  3. 3
    have a bowel movement wordnet
  4. 4
    To cut down (a plant) until its main stem is close to the ground, resembling a stool, to promote new growth.

    "Cutting back to the same position annually is usually referred to as pollarding; cutting nearly to the ground is usually called stooling. Both are good methods of controlling height and maintaining vigor on plants that would normally grow to a large size. […] Those [plants] that generate many small stems crowded together are difficult to pollard so they are normally stooled. Some people refer to stooling as coppice."

  5. 5
    grow shoots in the form of stools or tillers wordnet
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    react to a decoy, of wildfowl wordnet
  2. 7
    lure with a stool, as of wild fowl wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
defecatefecal matterfecesbabblebe indiscreetbe unguarded

Example

"A man came in and sat on the stool next to her."

Common questions

What does "stool" mean?

A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.; A seat for one person without a back or armrests.

What is a synonym for "stool"?

Common synonyms include: defecate, fecal matter, feces, babble, be indiscreet, be unguarded.

How do you use "stool" in a sentence?

A man came in and sat on the stool next to her.

How do you pronounce "stool"?

Pronounced /stuːl/.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English stool, stole, stol, from Old English stōl (“chair, seat, throne”), from Proto-West Germanic *stōl, from Proto-Germanic *stōlaz (“chair”) (compare West Frisian stoel, Dutch stoel, German Stuhl, Swedish/Norwegian/Danish stol, Finnish tuoli, Estonian tool), from Proto-Indo-European *stoh₂los (compare Lithuanian stálas, Russian стол (stol, “table”), Russian стул (stul, “chair”), Serbo-Croatian stol (“table”), Slovene stol (“chair”), Albanian kështallë (“crutch”), Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “block of stone used as a prop or buttress to a wall”)), from *steh₂- (“to stand”). More at stand. The medical use derives from sense 2 (seat used for defecation).

Etymology 2

From Latin stolo. See stolon.

More for "stool"

Synonyms

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