WordGarden.iostair
A2Pronunciation
UK
- /stˈeə/
US
- /ˈstɛr/
Meanings
Noun
one of the steps in a staircase
a staircase or flight of steps between levels
Beyond the definition
A stair is usually one step in a set that helps you go up or down between levels. In everyday English, people more often say stairs for the whole set, as in "She ran up the stairs" or "The stairs were wet and slippery." You may also see stair used for one step, especially in careful description, like "One broken stair made the climb dangerous."
Stairs can be wide or narrow, straight or curved, indoors or outdoors. They are found in homes, schools, offices, train stations, and many other places. The word is mostly practical, but it can also carry a feeling of movement, effort, or progress when used in stories.
A stair is one step in a series built to connect a lower level with a higher one. If you are standing in a building and looking at a full set, most people will call it stairs or a staircase. Still, the singular form matters: one stair can creak, break, feel steep, or be hard to see in the dark. That is why the word can point either to one unit in the set or, in some contexts, to the whole structure.
In daily life, the word appears in simple situations. Someone walks up the stairs to bed, carries a box down the stairs, slips on a wet stair, or pauses halfway on the staircase to catch their breath. You find them in apartment buildings, subway stations, schools, porches, gardens, and hillsides. They may be wooden, stone, metal, or concrete. Some are broad and welcoming, while others are narrow, worn, or winding.
The word also shows how English shifts between exact and everyday use. In careful writing, stair often means one step. In ordinary speech, stairs usually means the whole flight. That difference is small but useful, especially for learners, because "There is a crack in the top stair" and "The stairs are crowded" do not mean the same thing.
Beyond the physical object, stairs often carry a quiet sense of motion and change. Going up may suggest effort, growth, or hope. Going down may suggest caution, tiredness, or even fear. Because of that, stairs appear often in stories and films: a slow climb can build suspense, and a sudden run down the stairs can signal panic, escape, or urgency.
So the word lives in both plain daily speech and vivid description. It can be as ordinary as the steps by your front door or as dramatic as a sweeping staircase in a palace. Either way, it names something deeply familiar: the built path that lets us move, one step at a time, between levels.
Examples
- 1
Creaking step
The third stair creaks every time someone steps on it.
- 2
Sitting place
She sat on the bottom stair and tied her shoes.
- 3
Whole staircase
We heard someone coming down the stairs.
- Usage
stairs often means the whole staircase in everyday English
- 4
Child safety
Put the baby gate at the top of the stairs.
More examplesFewer examples
- 5
Apartment access
Her apartment is up three flights of stairs.
- Phrasea flight of stairs
one set of stairs between floors
- 6
Elevator choice
I usually take the stairs instead of the elevator.
- Phrasetake the stairs
go by the staircase, not by the elevator
See also
Forms and spellings
2 forms open this card.
Main spelling
- stairnoun
Forms
- stairspluralnoun