[f. STAND v. + POINT sb.1, after G. standpunkt.]
1. A fixed point of standing; the position at which a person stands to view an object, scene or the like; a point of view.
1829. Mill, Hum. Mind (1869), II. xiv. § 6. 150. As often as the movement [of the eyes] is repeated from the same stand-point, the optical series is repeated.
1868. Lockyer, Guillemin’s Heavens (ed. 3), 475. We want to know the distance of this tower from our stand-point without actually measuring or stepping the distance.
1907. J. A. Hodges, Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6), 142. A suitable stand-point having been selected.
2. A mental point of view; the position (with respect to degree of information, direction of sympathies or prejudices, assumed fundamental principles, or the like) that a person occupies in relation to any object of mental contemplation.
[1836. Sir G. C. Lewis, Lett. (1870), 53. The letters are not those of a man, but of a woman, and of a woman viewing the facts from the supposed standpunct of Mdlle. de Morell.]
1858. H. Spencer, Ess., I. 169. His [Hegel’s] stand-point is far remote from the one usually regarded as scientific.
1874. L. Stephen, Hours in Library (1892), I. iii. 100. I am content to look at it for the time from Pope’s stand-point.
1884. H. Jennings, Phallicism, xiv. 149–50, note. He deals with the subject simply from the orthodox and academic standpoint.
1894. Drummond, Ascent Man, 12. The whole mistake of naturalism has been to interpret Nature from the standpoint of the atom.
3. A position in life or in the world. rare–1.
1874. Helps, Soc. Press., iii. 54. They direct all, or the greatest part of, their efforts to insure a most favourable standpoint for their children.
