checkpoint

American  

[chek-point] / ˈtʃɛkˌpɔɪnt /

noun

1. a place along a road, border, etc., where travelers are stopped for inspection.

2. a point or item, especially in a procedure, for notation, inspection, or confirmation.

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checkpoint British  

/ ˈtʃɛkˌpɔɪnt /

noun

1. a place, as at a frontier or in a motor rally, where vehicles or travellers are stopped for official identification, inspection, etc

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Etymology

Origin of checkpoint

First recorded in 1935–40; check ¹ + point

Example Sentences

Checkpoint inhibitors, first approved in the U.S. in 2011, remove a brake on the immune system.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026

Back at Woodlands Checkpoint, Liaw and her team of customs officers wave off the driver they were searching - he was clean.

From BBC • Jan. 16, 2026

Checkpoint inhibitors target specific areas of the immune system to override tumour survival mechanisms.

From Science Daily • Jan. 22, 2024

Checkpoint inhibitors are obvious partners because they stymie tumors’ mechanisms for shutting down T cells.

From Science Magazine • Dec. 4, 2023

Sergeant Michael Rafferty was guarding Checkpoint Charlie, the precise spot where US and Soviet tanks had faced off three decades earlier when the Wall first went up.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau