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stationary

Syllabification: (sta·tion·ar·y)
Pronunciation: /ˈstāSHəˌnerē/
Translate stationary | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of stationary

adjective

  • not moving or not intended to be moved:a car collided with a stationary vehicle
  • Astronomy (of a planet) having no apparent motion in longitude.
  • not changing in quantity or condition:a stationary population

Origin:

late Middle English: from Latin stationarius (originally in the sense 'belonging to a military station'), from station- 'standing' (see station)

The words stationary and stationery are often confused. Stationary is an adjective that means ‘not moving or not intended to be moved,’ as in his car collided with a stationary vehicle, whereas stationery is a noun that means ‘writing and other office materials,’ as in I wrote to my father on the hotel stationery.

stationary in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of stationary in the British & World English dictionary
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