long-standing

adj

"long-standing" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“long-standing” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Having existed for a long time; of long standing.

Corpus desk

Index EN-long-standing · long-standing · English

long-standing · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "L" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for long-standing
PropertyValue
Headwordlong-standing
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “long-standing” in English

long-standingfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

long-standing is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for long-standing, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is long-standing, spelled L-O-N-G---S-T-A-N-D-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    Having existed for a long time; of long standing.
  2. 2
    Having been done for long enough time to become convention.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how long-standing appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Forty-five years ago, Crewe was witnessing the first year of the revised timetable associated with the 'Electric Scots' services, following inauguration of through London-Glasgow electric running in May 1974. Except for Euston-North Wales traffic, the long-standing practice of motive power changing at Crewe had ended.
  2. “As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters. We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, echoing his long-standing advocacy for use of the death penalty, which was part of his t…

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "long-standing"?
"long-standing" is spelled L-O-N-G---S-T-A-N-D-I-N-G.
What does "long-standing" mean?
As an adjective, "long-standing" means: Having existed for a long time; of long standing.
What language does "long-standing" come from?
"long-standing" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list