moratorium

American  

[mawr-uh-tawr-ee-uhm, -tohr-, mor-] / ˌmɔr əˈtɔr i əm, -ˈtoʊr-, ˌmɒr- /

noun

• moratoria,
  plural
• moratoriums
  plural

1. a suspension of activity.

   a moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons.

2. a legally authorized period to delay payment of money due or the performance of some other legal obligation, as in an emergency.

3. an authorized period of delay or waiting.

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moratorium British  

/ ˌmɒrəˈtɔːrɪəm /

noun

1. a legally authorized postponement of the fulfilment of an obligation

2. an agreed suspension of activity

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moratorium Cultural  

1. A period of delay agreed to by parties to a dispute or parties who are negotiating. A moratorium may also be an authorized delay in the repayment of a loan, especially by a nation (as in a moratorium on war debts).

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Usage

What does moratorium mean? A moratorium is most commonly an official suspension or delay of some activity. Moratorium often specifically refers to the postponement of the requirement to make some kind of payment, such as rent. Such moratoriums are often enacted during emergencies or other unusual circumstances in order to provide relief to people who have lost their usual source of income. Another kind of moratorium is imposed by governments or international bodies on particular activities, such as nuclear testing or offshore drilling. Moratoriums are often temporary. They can be scheduled to end after a specified period of time, or they can be indefinite, meaning the end date will be decided later. Moratorium is also used casually (often as part of a joke) to mean an informal ban on something that you want to stop, as in I think it’s time to put a moratorium on watching TV for a while, kids. The correct plural of moratorium can be either moratoriums or moratoria. Technically speaking, moratoria is the Latin-based plural form of moratorium. (Many other Latin-derived words can be pluralized in the same way, but many are rarely used, such as stadia as the plural for stadium.)Example: Due to the pandemic, some local governments have placed a moratorium on utility payments since so many people are out of work and won’t be able to pay their bills.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• moratory
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• moratoria
  plural
• moratoriums
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of moratorium

1870–75; < New Latin, Late Latin morātōrium, noun use of neuter of morātōrius moratory

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Explanation

A moratorium is the suspension of a particular activity — you could have a moratorium on fishing, baking, the use of candles, or the wearing of matching socks. Generally, moratoriums go into effect when something becomes seen as being not okay for now, but might go back to being okay later. After the water fountain started to burble up green sludge, the principal put a moratorium on drinking any water at school until the fountains were fixed and the water tested.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

moratorium moratoria moratoriums

Under the state constitution, she cannot end the death penalty with the stroke of a pen or declare a moratorium on executions or grant clemency to death row inmates on her own.

From Slate ● Nov. 11, 2026

However, no formal executions have been carried out since the moratorium was lifted.

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026

The death chamber was taken down and all but a handful of the remaining condemned inmates were relocated from segregated housing in San Quentin to other facilities across the state after Newsom’s 2019 moratorium.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

In September he imposed a moratorium on new permits; Hinojosa is calling for statewide legislation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

His idea was to offer the Russians a two-year moratorium on nuclear testing, with compliance to be verified by eight to twelve monitoring stations on each country’s territory.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Anti-AI sentiment is becoming increasingly serious, and moratoria on data-center development in the U.S. are growing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Montebello, El Monte and Baldwin Park have all enacted temporary moratoria, and Alhambra recently banned data centers as part of a zoning code update.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026

"Similar eviction moratoria after a climate-related disaster, potentially as part of federal recovery aid and efforts, could provide valuable protection to renters in affected communities," says He.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 14, 2023

Those figures do not account for the potential projects that have been preempted by locally imposed limitations or moratoria on solar applications.

From Reuters ● Apr. 7, 2022

Thirdly: The most botched subject can secure from his prince letters of respite or moratoria; but who shall give them to the prince, unless he does it to himself?

From The Invisible Lodge by Jean Paul

During a conference call, executives told analysts that demand for power isn’t abating even with moratoriums on data centers in places like Texas, Pennsylvania and New York.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026

While hardware and other data center stocks were hard hit over fears of new regulations or moratoriums on data centers, this niche was holding up just fine on Wednesday.

From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026

Any moratoriums on building datacenters that stem out of the midterms could trigger less capital flowing to the AI build-out, said Catrambone at DWS.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2026

Aside from attempts to calm and entice locals, Amazon took a harder-line approach earlier this month, warning the public that the moratoriums could be harmful.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

"All praise to the power of the war-time moratoriums," Farrel declared.

From The Pride of Palomar by Peter B. (Peter Bernard) Kyne

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Related Words

• ban
• delay
• freeze
• halt
• pause
• postponement
• reprieve
• truce

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