stance

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

stance, n. [OF. estance. See Stanza.].

•  A stanza.  Chapman.  [1913 Webster]
•  A station; a position; a site.  Sir W. Scott.  [1913 Webster]
•  The position of a player's feet, relative to each other and to the ball, when he is making a stroke or at bat.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  the mental attitude, position, or approach a person adopts in respect to something.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

stance, n.
1 an attitude or position of the body esp. when hitting a ball etc.
2 a standpoint; an attitude of mind.
3 Sc. a site for a market, taxi rank, etc.

Etymology

F f. It. stanza: see STANZA

THESAURUS

stance

affect, affectivity, affirmance, affirmation, air, allegation, announcement, annunciation, assertion, asseveration, assumption, attitude, averment, avouchment, avowal, bearing, beck, beckon, body language, brow, carriage, cast, cast of countenance, charade, chironomy, climate of opinion, color, common belief, community sentiment, complexion, conceit, concept, conception, conclusion, consensus gentium, consideration, countenance, creed, dactylology, deaf-and-dumb alphabet, declaration, demeanor, deportment, dictum, dumb show, emotion, emotivity, enunciation, estimate, estimation, ethos, eye, face, facial appearance, favor, feature, features, feeling, feeling tone, foothold, footing, footplate, footrail, footrest, garb, general belief, gesticulation, gesture, gesture language, guise, hand signal, hold, idea, impression, ipse dixit, judgment, kinesics, lights, lineaments, lines, locus standi, looks, manifesto, mental attitude, mien, mind, motion, movement, mystique, notion, observation, opinion, pantomime, perch, personal judgment, physiognomy, point of view, poise, popular belief, port, pose, position, position paper, positive declaration, posture, predicate, predication, presence, presumption, prevailing belief, proclamation, profession, pronouncement, proposition, protest, protestation, psychology, public belief, public opinion, purchase, reaction, say, say-so, saying, sentiment, shrug, sight, sign language, stand, standing, standing place, standpoint, statement, theory, thinking, thought, toehold, traits, turn, utterance, view, viewpoint, visage, vouch, way of thinking, word