Borrowed from Latin stet (“let it stand”), an inflection of stō (“to stand”).
Meanings
A symbol used by proofreaders and typesetters to indicate that a word or phrase that was crossed out or changed should remain as it was.
But a typographer in far-off Australia would instantly comprehend the carets, "stets," and "deles" of a Brooklyn proof-reader. 1955, John Ball, Cecil Brown Williams, Report Writing, page 225:
I believe the word "stet" is unnecessary and confusing; that it is used only on the margin when something has has been crossed off in the body of the text and is also used only with the dots (the stet marks ........) placed under the words in the body of the matter to be stetted—or to let stand as they were. 1914, “The Use of "Stet" in Proof Correction”, in Printing Trade News, From the Mail Sack, page 21:
[O]ne particular sub-editor […] would proof-read my book reviews and archly insert literally dozens of little commas – each one of which I felt as a dart in my flesh. […] I would thank her, glance at the blizzard of marks on the galley proof, wait for her to leave the room, and then (standing up to get a better run at it) attack the proof, feverishly crossing out everything she had added, and writing “STET”, “STET”, “STET”, “STET”, “STET” all down the page, until my arm got tired and I was spent. 2003 November 6, Lynne Truss, “Introduction – The Seventh Sense”, in Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, London: Profile Books Ltd, →ISBN, pages 31–32:
By "editor" I suppose you mean proofreader. [...] I have also come across a few pompous avuncular brutes who would attempt to "make suggestions" which I countered with a thunderous "stet!" 1967, Herbert Gold, quoting Vladimir Nabokov, “Vladimir Nabokov, The Art of Fiction No. 40”, in Paris Review, number 41:
And my copyeditors at HarperCollins want me to use the word “commodified” exclusively, since it’s the only one in Websters. But I see the words as very different, and have issued a big STET on that one. 2005, Douglas Rushkoff, "Commodified vs. Commoditized", 2005-09-04
(especially, in Maryland) An order staying all proceedings in an action.
In this jurisdiction, the system has some special procedures. A stet is an inactive court docket whereby a case is held inactive for up to one year. 1999 February 14, FAYE S. TAXMAN and LORI ELIS, “Expediting Court Dispositions: Quick Results, Uncertain Outcomes”, in Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, volume 36, number 1:
("To be eligible for a stet, the defendant must waive his right to a speedy trial.") (stating that when a prosecutor "stets" a case, the state is declining to prosecute it 2013, CT Harrington, “Breaking the cycle and stepping out of the revolving door: Why the pre-adjudication model is the way forward for Illinois Mental Health Courts”, in Univ. Illinois Law Review:
Borrowed from Latin stet (“let it stand”), an inflection of stō (“to stand”).
Meanings
(transitive) To let (edited material) stand, or remain as it was.
I believe the word "stet" is unnecessary and confusing; that it is used only on the margin when something has has been crossed off in the body of the text and is also used only with the dots (the stet marks ........) placed under the words in the body of the matter to be stetted—or to let stand as they were. 1914, “The Use of "Stet" in Proof Correction”, in Printing Trade News, From the Mail Sack, page 21:
Moreover it was unanously resolved to place a resolution on the A.D.M. agenda asking for the stetting of the recommendation that was deleted at Newport last year. 1934, The Journalist, volumes 17-19, page 39:
To stet in the fifth line these words , "Any minister of the Church of England or" 1890, North Carolina, William Laurence Saunders, The Colonial Records of North Carolina, volume 7, page 329:
Stet that colon.
Truly, American copy-editing has fallen into a state of demoralized confusion over hyphenated and unhyphenated compounds—or at least, I am demoralized and confused, having just gone through the manuscript of a novel in which a very smart and careful and goodnatured copy-editor has deleted about two hundred of my innocent tinkertoy hyphens. I wrote “stet hyphen” in the margin so many times that I finally abbreviated it to “SH”—but there was no wicked glee in my intransigence: I didn’t want to be the typical prose prima donna who made her life difficult. 1993 November 4, Nicholson Baker, “Survival of the Fittest”, in The New York Review of Books, New York, N.Y., →ISSN, archived from the original on 25 Mar 2024:
(qualifier:especially Maryland) To stay all proceedings in an action.
("To be eligible for a stet, the defendant must waive his right to a speedy trial.") (stating that when a prosecutor "stets" a case, the state is declining to prosecute it 2013, CT Harrington, “Breaking the cycle and stepping out of the revolving door: Why the pre-adjudication model is the way forward for Illinois Mental Health Courts”, in Univ. Illinois Law Review:
Appellant contends that the indictment, having been stetted [in Maryland], it is no longer in force and effect (Applt.'s Brief, Point IV). It is submitted that the stetting of an indictment is equivalent only to a discharge of a defendant on his own recognizance. c. 1924, John E. McGeehan, “Thomas Wells Cole v. Richard E. Enright”, in Supreme Court, State of New York, Appellate Division—First Department, page 28:
A protest has been set up by the Maryland Board of Pharmacy against the action of the state's attorney in stetting three indictments against M. A. Potocki, of Baltimore, who was on trial on five charges of violating the medical practice act 1914, The Journal of the National Association of Retail Druggists, page 232:
I respectfully submit the following statement in accordance with the order of the Convention:MAY TERM, 1864. / Indictments found....18 / Convicted....12 / Acquitted....5 / Stetted....2 1867, Maryland. Constitutional Convention, Proceedings of the State Convention of Maryland, page 64: