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/ˈstændˌbaɪ̯/ · noun
A state of readiness without immediate involvement; remaining in preparation for (a sudden or unforeseen event or situation)..
The troops were on standby in case of an attack.
In 1915, concurrent with the L.S.W.R. electrification, power was supplied from the Waterloo sub-station, and the old equipment held in reserve. Some generator sets were removed, and motor generators installed for standby lighting and other services.
During three weeks of the run, I was performing with walking pneumonia, but I had no choice other than to perform because we didn't have the budget for stand-bys.
That recipe is an old standby, and she keeps the ingredients around in case of unexpected guests.
The restaurant, Hop Louie, was a Chinatown standby for decades before closing in 2016.
Emerging from an Everyman Espresso shop in Park Slope, Brooklyn, last month, David Lieber, a customer, lamented what he saw as Blank Street’s targeting of a neighborhood standby.
Standby while I check that for you.
For quotations using this term, see Citations:standby.
Use standby when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Standby means A state of readiness without immediate involvement; remaining in preparation for (a sudden or unforeseen event or situation)..
Common synonyms include at the ready, secondary, understudy.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
The troops were on standby in case of an attack.
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