stay of execution
noun
a court order that delays enforcement of a legal ruling, especially a court order that delays the enforcement of a death penalty.
stays of execution
-
pluralof stay of execution.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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.
To identify them prior to that, we flagged applications for stays of execution.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
But with the notable exception of emergency applications for last-minute stays of execution, this category of court activity has traditionally received little attention.
From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2021
Ramirez has already had two stays of execution, once in 2017 so he could get a new attorney and again last September because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 12, 2021
When stays of execution are requested in death penalty cases, they seem to fly through the courts on their way to being denied.
From Slate ● Jan. 10, 2020
In the cases where I had actually been counsel for the condemned while I was in Georgia, we'd always won stays of execution.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
