1
: someone employed to occupy an actor's place while lights and camera are readied
2
Synonyms
Examples of stand-in in a Sentence
Noun
hired him at the last minute as a stand-in for the person who quit
Verb
she will be standing in for the regular teacher for a week
Recent Examples on the Web
Amber Dasilva / Jalopnik, Quartz, 7 May 2024
With great empathy, Messud shows the effects war, colonialism, and later sovereignty had on three generations of the Cassars, most notably, the family’s youngest member, aspiring writer Chloe, a stand-in for Messud, who believes the truth will finally set her relatives free.
—Shannon Carlin, TIME, 1 May 2024
Dee fixes upon improving Teddy’s dad’s company as a stand-in for fixing the world (and her own life).
—Olivia Waite, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2024
Her first job was for Spanish Elle, working as a fitting model, an off-camera stand-in for a woman with a similar silhouette.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 23 Apr. 2024
We are thrown in the middle of what is clearly a recurring argument between the Keys stand-in, 17-year-old Ali (the sensational Maleah Joi Moon), and her mother, Jersey (Shoshana Bean, in top form).
—Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Times, 21 Apr. 2024
Even Grover, who first appears to be the play’s comic relief — and audience stand-in during the band’s long sieges of madness — turns out to be one of the most original characters, and expertly played by Gelb as a man who is barely holding onto his job, if not his sanity.
—Frank Rizzo, Variety, 20 Apr. 2024
Rana, the chief of police, could be seen as a stand-in for bureaucrats and administrators who critics accuse of emboldening extremists and stoking sectarian violence.
—Harmeet Kaur, CNN, 15 Apr. 2024
Colleges are a convenient and tangible stand-in for what his allies have smeared as wokeism.
—Philip Elliott, TIME, 12 Apr. 2024
Saveur Editors, Saveur, 17 May 2024
When YouTube launched nearly two decades ago, its first clip was a grainy video of co-founder Jawed Karim speaking to the camera while standing in front of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo.
—Wendy Lee, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2024
The past few years saw drought, below-average precipitation This spring's rain totals stand in stark contrast to the past few years, which experienced prolonged droughtconditions.
—Claire Reid, Journal Sentinel, 15 May 2024
The three men were standing in the lot in the 700 block of West 71st Street at around 9:40 p.m. when shots were fired, according to police.
—Kate Armanini, Chicago Tribune, 15 May 2024
Udi Goren, whose cousin was killed by Hamas Oct. 7, stands in a conference room at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum headquarters in Tel Aviv, April 21, 2024.
—Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 May 2024
The officer found Dunin still standing in the pool with many of his belongings thrown in.
—Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 14 May 2024
The Gaza solidarity encampments across the U.S. are anti-racist spaces, where Jews, Palestinians, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, Black people, men, women, LGBTQI people, and others stand in solidarity with each other and against Israel’s war on Gaza.
—Raz Segal, TIME, 14 May 2024
In a video clip later shown during Alex’s 2023 murder trial, his youngest son Paul, 22, is seen presenting his father with a cake lit with flickering candles as his wife, Maggie, 52, stands in the background beaming.
—Kc Baker, Peoplemag, 14 May 2024
Noun
In the cylinder-moving exercise — likely a stand-in for moving around battery cells — the end of that little conveyer belt could easily just dump items into their red case.
—Amber Dasilva / Jalopnik, Quartz, 7 May 2024
With great empathy, Messud shows the effects war, colonialism, and later sovereignty had on three generations of the Cassars, most notably, the family’s youngest member, aspiring writer Chloe, a stand-in for Messud, who believes the truth will finally set her relatives free.
—Shannon Carlin, TIME, 1 May 2024
Dee fixes upon improving Teddy’s dad’s company as a stand-in for fixing the world (and her own life).
—Olivia Waite, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2024
Her first job was for Spanish Elle, working as a fitting model, an off-camera stand-in for a woman with a similar silhouette.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 23 Apr. 2024
We are thrown in the middle of what is clearly a recurring argument between the Keys stand-in, 17-year-old Ali (the sensational Maleah Joi Moon), and her mother, Jersey (Shoshana Bean, in top form).
—Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Times, 21 Apr. 2024
Even Grover, who first appears to be the play’s comic relief — and audience stand-in during the band’s long sieges of madness — turns out to be one of the most original characters, and expertly played by Gelb as a man who is barely holding onto his job, if not his sanity.
—Frank Rizzo, Variety, 20 Apr. 2024
Rana, the chief of police, could be seen as a stand-in for bureaucrats and administrators who critics accuse of emboldening extremists and stoking sectarian violence.
—Harmeet Kaur, CNN, 15 Apr. 2024
Colleges are a convenient and tangible stand-in for what his allies have smeared as wokeism.
—Philip Elliott, TIME, 12 Apr. 2024
Verb
Aperol stands in for Campari in this lighter, brighter take on the classic Negroni.
—Saveur Editors, Saveur, 17 May 2024
When YouTube launched nearly two decades ago, its first clip was a grainy video of co-founder Jawed Karim speaking to the camera while standing in front of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo.
—Wendy Lee, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2024
The past few years saw drought, below-average precipitation This spring's rain totals stand in stark contrast to the past few years, which experienced prolonged droughtconditions.
—Claire Reid, Journal Sentinel, 15 May 2024
The three men were standing in the lot in the 700 block of West 71st Street at around 9:40 p.m. when shots were fired, according to police.
—Kate Armanini, Chicago Tribune, 15 May 2024
Udi Goren, whose cousin was killed by Hamas Oct. 7, stands in a conference room at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum headquarters in Tel Aviv, April 21, 2024.
—Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 May 2024
The officer found Dunin still standing in the pool with many of his belongings thrown in.
—Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 14 May 2024
The Gaza solidarity encampments across the U.S. are anti-racist spaces, where Jews, Palestinians, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, Black people, men, women, LGBTQI people, and others stand in solidarity with each other and against Israel’s war on Gaza.
—Raz Segal, TIME, 14 May 2024
In a video clip later shown during Alex’s 2023 murder trial, his youngest son Paul, 22, is seen presenting his father with a cake lit with flickering candles as his wife, Maggie, 52, stands in the background beaming.
—Kc Baker, Peoplemag, 14 May 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stand-in.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near stand-in
Cite this Entry
“Stand-in.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stand-in. Accessed 19 May. 2024.
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