stand for

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

1. idiomaticTo mean; to symbolize; to represent; especially of an acronym or abbreviation.

   The abbreviation CIA stands for "Central Intelligence Agency".

   2 more examples

   Some teachers festoon every spare inch of wall with vocabulary choices or maths techniques to use, which look great at first, but to some children might appear quite daunting. You'll probably see unfamiliar acronyms such as Walt (We Are Learning To). Be sure to ask what they stand for and how they are used in practice.

   2014 September 23, A teacher, “Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents”, in The Guardian

   whether these names do not some of them sometimes stand for the same thing

   1693, [John Locke], “§134”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC

2. To advocate; to support.

   Bernard, you should stand for Parliament.

   1986 February 13, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “A Victory for Democracy”, in Yes, Prime Minister, season 1, episode 6, spoken by Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne)

   1 more example

   Oh Lord, I'm still not sure what I stand for, oh-oh (Oh-ooh-woah) what do I stand for? (Oh-ooh-woah) what do I stand for? Most nights, I don't know anymore

   2012, Jeff Bhasker, Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost, Jack Antonoff, “Some Nights”, in Some Nights), performed by fun.

3. To tolerate.

   We won't stand for that type of behaviour.