Dictionary

stick to en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To persist; to continue (to use, do, etc.)
   • I have seen all the fancy electric toothbrushes, but I'm going to stick to the old-fashioned kind.
   • What I get from work makes me a better mother, and what I get from being a mother makes me a better journalist. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. 2007, Amanda Lamb, Smotherhood: Wickedly Funny Confessions from the Early Years:
   • If you stick to your studies, you will continue to improve.
   • When I did newspaper work in the 1950s I always found it hard to initiate criticism of a person. Now, in the late 1970s, I suddenly find it has become hard to praise a person. Take, for example, the case of Liu Jie, an inspector of the neighborhood registry in the Daxing’anling district of Heilongjiang, who was praised in the press for sticking to principles. She also had the support of the Provincial Party Committee. But it was precisely the commendation of the Party newspaper that brought calamity upon her, and the support of the provincial leadership was of no use in breaking the siege that befell her. 2006 [1979 November 9], Binyan Liu, “Listen Carefully to the Voice of the People”, in Kyna Rubin, Perry Link, transl., edited by Perry Link, Two Kinds of Truth: Stories and Reportage from China, Indiana University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 34:
2. (idiomatic) To follow and remain close to.
   • The suspect doubled back through an alley, but the detective stuck to him like glue.
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see stick, to.

Forms

Deriveds

stick to one's guns · sticktoitiveness · stick to one's knitting

Translations (7)

fi pitäytyä (persist; continue) · es atenerse a (follow and remain close to) · fi pysyä perässä (follow and remain close to) · fi pysytellä perässä (follow and remain close to) · cmn 堅持 /坚持 (persist; continue) · es ceñirse a (persist; continue) · cmn 黏 (follow and remain close to)