stage

a section or portion of a journey or course

then we embarked on the second stage of our Caribbean cruise

a large platform on which people can stand and can be seen by an audience

he clambered up onto the stage and got the actors to help him into the box

a small platform on a microscope where the specimen is mounted for examination

a large coach-and-four formerly used to carry passengers and mail on regular routes between towns

we went out of town together by stage about ten or twelve miles

the theater as a profession (usually `the stage')

an early movie simply showed a long kiss by two actors of the contemporary stage

any scene regarded as a setting for exhibiting or doing something

All the world's a stage"--Shakespeare

it set the stage for peaceful negotiations

a specific identifiable position in a continuum or series or especially in a process

a remarkable degree of frankness

at what stage are the social sciences?

any distinct time period in a sequence of events

we are in a transitional stage in which many former ideas must be revised or rejected

plan, organize, and carry out (an event)

the neighboring tribe staged an invasion

perform (a play), especially on a stage

we are going to stage `Othello'