full stop

American  

noun

• full stops
  plural

1. period.

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full stop British  

noun

1. 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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• full stops
  plural

Etymology

Origin of full stop

First recorded in 1590–1600

Example Sentences

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

It will be a full stop for a generation of Australian cricketers who have never won an away Ashes and almost certainly for Stokes, who will turn 36 as the series begins.

From BBC ● Jan. 3, 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

Jimmy slowed, but before he came to a full stop the light changed to green.

From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan