to stand on its own
- phrasal verb
- You are well enough established now, and the act is good enough to stand on its own.
- stand on its own merits
When you think about it, it kind of stands on its own, just like this screen.
- When you think about it, it kind of stands on its own, just like this screen.
- He thinks that the rational argumentation can sort of stand on its own.
- And finally reading this, the first book kind of could stand on its own.
- A good constructed plot stands on its own.
- So that doesn't actually influence my, my review of the work because this is such a great work, it would stand on its own.
- It was like to me, it was about theme, unless it's about me being dead and standing on its own.
Examples
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But it's time this town stood on its own.
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Each essay is a work, able to stand on its own and is not a component of a larger work.
Academic text (2015) -
An art production should be able to stand on its own, independent of the knowledge of the culture and so on.
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In the end, though, Iraq will have to learn to stand on its own.
Blog text (27) -
What will make the story really stand on its own is if it starts out with no assumptions.
Blog text (7) -
Each of the ten can stand on its own merit, and all are equally important.
Academic text (1999) -
If a product can't stand on its own, it's not our responsibility to make it work.
Blog text (19) -
On the other hand, if the story can stand on its own, it is not as much like fanfic.
Blog text (8) -
Every building block in the AGW edifice stands on its own scientific merits.
Blog text (23) -
Each of the ten candidates can stand on its own merit, and all are equally important.
Synonyms
To do something without help from other people
Look after yourself without help from others
Act on your own without following what other people want
To act or work alone without help from others
Able to live and support yourself without help from others
To make your own decisions without other people telling you what to do
To support yourself without help from other people
Alone without help or someone watching, a person must take care of themselves
To do something alone without help
Antonyms
How Independent
- Informal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to be independent or self-sufficient' is directly derivable from combining 'stand' (to remain/hold) with the phrase 'on its own' (by itself/without assistance), so the overall sense follows compositional logic. This is a common, cross-linguistically accessible construction in English, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the idiom's meaning.
Etymology
The phrase stand on its own comes from the simple image of something that can stand by itself, like a chair or a small shop that does not need help to stay up. So it means 'independent'.