Word of the Day: Outstanding

outstanding

out-stand-ing / out-stăn-dĭng, out-stăn- dĭng

adjective

1. extremely good; excellent; superior

If you want to stand out, don't be different, be outstanding.

Meredith West, ? -

2. obvious, very noticeable

What you see is that the most outstanding feature of life's history is a constant domination by bacteria.

Stephen Jay Gould, 1941 – 2002

3. still in existence; not paid, settled, satisfied or resolved

Purchases bought by bulk in partnership had to be equitably divided, outstanding debts canceled, accounts compared, and trunks, boxes and packages labeled.

From “The Innocents Abroad” by Mark Twain, 1835 - 1910

4. issued and sold

But why its outstanding stock should be booted around Broad Street was an interestin' question.

From “Torchy as a Pa” by Sewell Ford, 1868 - 1946

5. sticking out; protruding

His tangled beard, grizzled hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were tinged with a shade of blue.

From “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859 - 1930

etymology

Made from combining the English adverb out (from the Anglo-Saxon adverb ut through the Middle English ut, oute, oiut all of the same meaning) with the present active participle of the English verb stand, which comes from the Anglo-Saxon verb standan through the Middle English verb standen, all of which are related to the Latin verb sto, stare, steti, statum

(stand).

Thank you to Allen Ward for providing this etymology.