standstill
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of standstill
First recorded in 1695–1705; noun use of verb phrase stand still
Explanation
When anything comes to a standstill, it stops moving, either literally coming to a motionless stop, or ceasing to make any progress. If you and your brother try to agree on what kind of pizza to order, but your negotiations come to a standstill, it means that neither one of you will budge or compromise, and you've reached a dead end. During rush hour on a busy highway, traffic often comes to a standstill — it simply stops. This "cessation of movement" meaning came first.
Vocabulary lists containing standstill
"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury
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"The Experiment" and "The World Is in Their Hands"
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The First State of Being
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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:
If shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains at a standstill, however, that could end up costing consumers more at the pump.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
Among them, Beazer insists that Dream Finders enter into a non-disclosure agreement with a 12-month standstill period, which Dream Finders said was an attempt to impede the potential deal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
The game that will bring Mexico to a standstill cannot come quickly enough.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
Additional cooling techniques reduce their energy even further, bringing the atomic cloud close to a complete standstill and allowing scientists to maximize the amount of time it can be studied in microgravity.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
Before Bernard could answer, the lift came to a standstill.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
They are noteworthy for their enormous scale, geometric precision and astronomical breadth and accuracy, such as encoding all eight lunar standstills over an 18.6-year cycle.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 19, 2023
Measures could include debt standstills and sharing World Bank-I.M.F. debt sustainability analysis with all creditor nations simultaneously.
From New York Times ● Apr. 10, 2023
She also wants debt service standstills during restructuring negotiations and an expansion of the framework's remit as many countries holding the bulk of at-risk debt are not poor enough to currently qualify for relief.
From Reuters ● Feb. 17, 2022
The newly-released transcript also features an interview with Rosen in which Weinsheimer again brings the proceedings to several standstills.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2021
Her brain stammered; seemed to fly loose; came to sudden standstills.
From Tatterdemalion by Galsworthy, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
