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

These are core financial tenets that should be followed 100% of the time, full stop.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 9, 2026

Despite Schjerfbeck’s time in Paris, she seems to have ignored what the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists were doing, but at intervals, early paintings make you come to a full stop.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 3, 2026

Paltrow: I try to never read anything about myself, full stop, ever.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2025

"Peace must come with the safety and security of our citizens, full stop," the ministry's spokesman said.

From BBC ● Dec. 10, 2025

Shakespeare called the full stop a period in A Midsummer Night’s Dream when he described nervous players “making periods in the midst of sentences”.

From "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Author

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