Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not moving.
  • adjective Not capable of being moved; fixed.
  • adjective Unchanging.
  • noun One that is stationary.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having a particular station or place; remaining in a certain place; not movable, or not intended to be moved; not moving, or appearing not to move; technically, without velocity, whether this condition is only instantaneous, or whether the body spoken of remains motionless for an interval of time.
  • Remaining in the same condition or state; making no progress; without change; with neither increase nor decrease of symptoms, intensity, etc.: as, a stationary temperature.
  • noun A person or thing which remains or continues in the same place or condition; specifically, one of a force of permanent or stationary troops.
  • noun One who wishes to stay as or where he is; one who opposes or resists progress; an extreme conservatist.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who, or that which, is stationary, as a planet when apparently it has neither progressive nor retrograde motion.
  • adjective Not moving; not appearing to move; stable; fixed.
  • adjective Not improving or getting worse; not growing wiser, greater, better, more excellent, or the contrary.
  • adjective Appearing to be at rest, because moving in the line of vision; not progressive or retrograde, as a planet.
  • adjective (Physiol.) the air which under ordinary circumstances does not leave the lungs in respiration.
  • adjective A factory engine, in distinction from a blowing, pumping, or other kind of engine which is also permanently placed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Not moving.
  • adjective incapable of being moved
  • adjective unchanging
  • noun One who, or that which, is stationary, such as a planet when apparently it has neither progressive nor retrograde motion.
  • noun Common misspelling of stationery.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not capable of being moved
  • adjective standing still

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English stacionarie, from Old French stationnaire, from Medieval Latin statiōnārius, from Latin, belonging to a military station, from statiō, statiōn-, station; see station.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin stationarius, from statio, ultimately from stō.

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Examples

  • A short history of the Steady-State economy John Stuart Mill was not the first economist to write about the steady-state economy (he used the term stationary state), but he was among the first to contemplate it with pleasure rather than distaste as Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo had done before.

    Herman Daly Festschrift~ Herman Daly and the Steady State Economy 2009

  • First, he postulated that, in contrast to classical mechanics, where an infinite number of orbits is possible, an electron can be in only one of a discrete set of orbits, which he termed stationary states.

    PENSIEVE 2009

  • Aristide Antonas, a designer from Athens, has a great idea to recycle old trucks into apartments that can either remain stationary or stay attached to the truck and be mobile.

    Bridgette Meinhold | Inhabitat 2010

  • He will ultimately call this a government cost-cutting measure due to the $79.95 he will save us in stationary and postage!

    Obama must overturn military suicide condolence rules, lawmakers urge 2009

  • Adams said it has become difficult to get parts for the doors, and so the doors on one end of the hangar remain stationary because some of the parts from those doors were used to repair the doors at the other end of the hangar.

    2009 January 04 « Beachwood Historical Alliance 2009

  • Hopefully the little guy will get out and continue to explore, if not and as long as the solar panels don't get covered too bad – I guess it would be a good time to start some long term stationary monitoring of the area.

    Ok, Spirit Rover, Let's Blow This Pop Stand! | Universe Today 2009

  • But I must admit: these beautiful stationary sachets are too pretty for my stationary I have a strange interest in Asian stationary - from both Korea and Japan - but they are all way too juvenile for this scent.

    Japanese Love Letter Ayala Sender 2009

  • But I must admit: these beautiful stationary sachets are too pretty for my stationary I have a strange interest in Asian stationary - from both Korea and Japan - but they are all way too juvenile for this scent.

    Archive 2009-01-01 Ayala Sender 2009

  • Satsuma Press stationary is simple design that is pleasing to the eye and mind; refreshing color and lush paper; plenty of open space and quiet, graceful beauty.

    July 2007 2007

  • Satsuma Press stationary is simple design that is pleasing to the eye and mind; refreshing color and lush paper; plenty of open space and quiet, graceful beauty.

    PrairieMod Store Update 2007

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