How to pronounce stead

(Entry 1 of 2) 1 : the office, place, or function ordinarily occupied or carried out by someone or something else acted in his brother’s stead. 2 : advantage —used chiefly in the phrase to stand one in good stead. 3 obsolete : locality, place.

When the T and D sounds come between two other consonant sounds, many Americans will drop them. But when we add the -ly ending, it now comes between two consonants. You’ll hear a lot of native speakers say ‘exactly‘, with no T sound. Exactly, exactly.