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Synonyms

stopwatch

American  
[stop-woch] / ˈstɒpˌwɒtʃ /

noun

  • stopwatches
    plural
  1. a watch with a hand or hands that can be stopped or started at any instant, used for precise timing, as in races.


stopwatch British  
/ ˈstɒpˌwɒtʃ /

noun

  1. a type of watch used for timing events, such as sporting events, accurately, having a device for stopping the hand or hands instantly

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of stopwatch

First recorded in 1730–40; stop + watch


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Training was pared back on Thursday after Jaissle - stopwatch hanging from his neck - recognised the legs of his squad were "heavy".

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

Racing against a stopwatch, a group of women folds bedsheets as they train to join an Indian startup that offers instant home services, transforming a traditionally word-of-mouth sector and promising better pay.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

I may be wrong about this, I didn’t have a stopwatch, but Ms. Hynes does receive top billing over Ms. Purvis in each episode’s opening credits.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

In recent months, the iconic ticking stopwatch of the CBS News magazine “60 Minutes” began to sound like a time bomb.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026

Dad would whistle assembly, take out his stopwatch, and demonstrate how quickly we could gather.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Instead, Fehlbaum fills the frame with his fetish for tactile objects: stopwatches, soldering irons, stacks of sandwiches, dot-matrix printers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2024

In the church, Ferrari and his workers have their stopwatches out to time the Maserati.

From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2024

Even among the irrepressible talents of his co-stars, Perry stood out, for a rubbery, heedless way with physical comedy and a split-second timing that most stopwatches would envy.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2023

Discovering how workers could perform more efficiently often meant timing their movements with stopwatches to make sure they did not attach parts or move levers inefficiently.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022

Two coaches hurried up, gaping at their stopwatches, on which they had clocked his final lap.

From "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand

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