Synonyms

full stop

American

noun

period.

full stop British

noun

Also called (esp US and Canadian): period. the punctuation mark (.) used at the end of a sentence that is not a question or exclamation, after abbreviations, etc

"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

full stops

plural

Etymology

Origin of full stop

First recorded in 1590–1600

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:

full stop

And sometimes that gaze is just discomfiting, full stop.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2026

Last year’s full stop on hiring is loosening up a bit.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 8, 2026

I've replied to many an email - my punctuation may be extra but a full stop feels blunt.

From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2025

Waymo says its cars are designed to come to a full stop.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025

When he neared the end of the hill, he dragged his sneakers like Fred Flintstone and came to a full stop.

From "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023