stand down

present singular third person stands down · participle present standing down · participle past stood down · past stood down

1. idiomaticTo wait; to stop pursuing, stop fighting, or relax from a heightened readiness posture.

   They ordered the troops to stand down for the moment.

   Antonyms: square off, square up

2. ambitransitiveTo withdraw or retire from a position or from a team.

   The criminal case was launched after the aviation giant’s subsidiary stood down a trained health and safety representative hours after he directed others to cease work.

   2023 November 16, “Qantas illegally stood down worker who stopped cleaning of planes at start of Covid pandemic”, in The Guardian, sourced from Australian Assocated Press, →ISSN

   2 more examples

   The remaining four locomotives in traffic […] are all expected to be stood down due to their high engine hours, as well as being due exams which the company is not prepared to undertake.

   2023 November 29, “Last remaining DB Cargo Class 60s face final workings in December”, in RAIL, number 997, page 19

   Angela Rayner has stood down from the government after the prime minister’s ethics adviser found she had breached the ministerial code over her underpayment of stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat.

   2025 September 5, Pippa Crerar, “Angela Rayner resigns over stamp duty row”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: resign, stand aside, step down