Meaning & use
stoic
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparableapproving
Accepting pain, loss or hardship calmly, without complaining or showing how much it hurts.
Grammar: Describes people or their manner: a stoic expression, stoic about the news.
Patterns
- be stoic about something
- stoic in the face of something
He remained stoic as the doctor explained the long recovery.
The villagers were stoic about the loss of the harvest.
She gave a stoic smile and went back to work.
nouncountable
A person who accepts what happens without visible emotion, or, with a capital S, a follower of the ancient Greek school of Stoicism.
Grammar: Capitalized as Stoic when naming the philosophical school.
Patterns
- a Stoic philosopher
Her grandfather was a stoic who never mentioned his pain.
Marcus Aurelius is the best-known Roman Stoic.
The Stoics taught that people should control their reactions, not events.
Word forms
| plural | stoics |
|---|---|
| comparative | more stoic |
| superlative | most stoic |
Common combinations
- stoic silence
- They met the bad news with stoic silence.
- remain stoic
- The goalkeeper remained stoic after the defeat.
- stoic acceptance
- Her stoic acceptance of the delay impressed everyone.
- stoic about
- He was stoic about the surgery.
- stoic face
- She wore a stoic face throughout the hearing.
Synonyms and how they differ
- impassive
- Impassive describes a face or manner showing no feeling, but does not suggest the effort of enduring hardship that stoic does.
- uncomplaining
- Uncomplaining only says the person does not grumble, while stoic hints at deep self-control.
- phlegmatic
- Phlegmatic describes a naturally calm temperament, whereas stoic suggests calm chosen under suffering.
- long-suffering
- Long-suffering stresses patiently putting up with someone or something over time.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: stoic or stoical?
stoic vs stoical
Stoical is a less common variant meaning the same as the adjective stoic; there is no real difference in meaning.
Practice
Despite the pain in his knee, the runner stayed ____ and finished the race without a word of complaint.
Choose one answer.
Stoic means enduring hardship calmly. Hysterical and frantic describe the opposite, and jubilant means joyful, which does not match enduring pain quietly.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “stoic”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.