last stand
14
6.1
- noun
:
última resistencia
- My men have fortified the entrance with enough artillery to make our last stand.
- make their last stand
- desperate last stand
- valiant last stand
Examples
-
Contemplate the last stand of the 44th Regiment at Gandamark.
Blog text (33) -
There he prepared to make his last stand against the oncoming Americans.
Fiction book (1990) -
This is our last stand.
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This is their last stand.
-
Is this our last stand?
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This was a last stand.
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The guard made a heroic last stand, with the survivors pulling back.
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And where we're headin', this hotel... they made their last stand there.
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A desperate last stand between civilization and barbarism.
-
The team created a strategy for their last stand against the unbeatable opponent.
Synonyms
123
6.0
A last effort to resist attack or defeat
3
5.8
A final effort you make when nothing else works
1
6.4
A final desperate try to succeed when success seems unlikely
Antonyms
How Determined
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a final, determined effort to resist' is directly and compositionally derived from 'last' (final) modifying 'stand' (an act of resisting). This adjective+noun combination follows a transparent English pattern and has clear equivalents in other languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words would likely infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Last stand comes from old battle scenes where a small group of soldiers would hold one final position and stay to fight; last shows it was the final moment and stand shows they held their ground. That's why last stand means a final, determined effort 'to resist' or 'to defend' when defeat seems likely.