a Greek school of philosophy, founded in Athens, Greece about 308 b.c. by Zeno (Greek philosopher, 342? - 270? b.c.), holding that human beings should be free from passion and calmly accept all occurrences as the unavoidable result of divine will. Stoic is from the Greek word stoa, meaning porch or colonnade and referring to a colonnade where Zeno taught. Stoic also now refers to someone who follows the stoic philosophy. —Class VIII №14, Approved November 1990