stop

[ stop ]

/ stɒp /

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See synonyms for: stop / stopped / stopping / stops on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object), stopped or (Archaic) stopt; stop·ping.

to cease from, leave off, or discontinue: to stop running.

to cause to cease; put an end to: to stop noise in the street.

to interrupt, arrest, or check (a course, proceeding, process, etc.): Stop your work just a minute.

to cut off, intercept, or withhold: to stop supplies.

to restrain, hinder, or prevent (usually followed by from): I couldn't stop him from going.

to prevent from proceeding, acting, operating, continuing, etc.: to stop a speaker; to stop a car.

to block, obstruct, or close (a passageway, channel, opening, duct, etc.) (usually followed by up): He stopped up the sink with a paper towel. He stopped the hole in the tire with a patch.

to fill the hole or holes in (a wall, a decayed tooth, etc.).

to close (a container, tube, etc.) with a cork, plug, bung, or the like.

to close the external orifice of (the ears, nose, mouth, etc.).

Sports.

to check (a stroke, blow, etc.); parry; ward off.
to defeat (an opposing player or team): The Browns stopped the Colts.
Boxing. to defeat by a knockout or technical knockout: Louis stopped Conn in the 13th round.

Banking. to notify a bank to refuse payment of (a check) upon presentation.

Bridge. to have an honor card and a sufficient number of protecting cards to keep an opponent from continuing to win in (a suit).

Music.

to close (a fingerhole) in order to produce a particular note from a wind instrument.
to press down (a string of a violin, viola, etc.) in order to alter the pitch of the tone produced from it.
to produce (a particular note) by so doing.

verb (used without object), stopped or (Archaic) stopt; stop·ping.

to come to a stand, as in a course or journey; halt.

to cease moving, proceeding, speaking, acting, operating, etc.; to pause; desist.

to cease; come to an end.

to halt for a brief visit (often followed by at, in, or by): He is stopping at the best hotel in town.

stop by, to make a brief visit on one's way elsewhere: I'll stop by on my way home.

noun

the act of stopping.

a cessation or arrest of movement, action, operation, etc.; end: The noise came to a stop. Put a stop to that behavior!

a stay or sojourn made at a place, as in the course of a journey: Above all, he enjoyed his stop in Trieste.

a place where trains or other vehicles halt to take on and discharge passengers: Is this a bus stop?

a closing or filling up, as of a hole.

a blocking or obstructing, as of a passage or channel.

a plug or other stopper for an opening.

an obstacle, impediment, or hindrance.

any piece or device that serves to check or control movement or action in a mechanism.

Architecture. a feature terminating a molding or chamfer.

Commerce.

an order to refuse payment of a check.
stop order.

Music.

the act of closing a fingerhole or pressing a string of an instrument in order to produce a particular note.
a device or contrivance, as on an instrument, for accomplishing this.
(in an organ) a graduated set of pipes of the same kind and giving tones of the same quality.
Also called stop knob. a knob or handle that is drawn out or pushed back to permit or prevent the sounding of such a set of pipes or to control some other part of the organ.
(in a reed organ) a group of reeds functioning like a pipe-organ stop.

Sports. an individual defensive play or act that prevents an opponent or opposing team from scoring, advancing, or gaining an advantage, as a catch in baseball, a tackle in football, or the deflection of a shot in hockey.

Nautical. a piece of small line used to lash or fasten something, as a furled sail.

Phonetics.

an articulation that interrupts the flow of air from the lungs.
a consonant sound characterized by stop articulation, as p, b, t, d, k, and g.Compare continuant.

Photography. the diaphragm opening of a lens, especially as indicated by an f- number.

Building Trades.

any of various marks used as punctuation at the end of a sentence, especially a period.

the word “stop” printed in the body of a telegram or cablegram to indicate a period.

stops, (used with a singular verb) a family of card games whose object is to play all of one's cards in a predetermined sequence before one's opponents.

Zoology. a depression in the face of certain animals, especially dogs, marking the division between the forehead and the projecting part of the muzzle.

Verb Phrases

stop down, Photography. (on a camera) to reduce (the diaphragm opening of a lens).

stop in, to make a brief, incidental visit: If you're in town, be sure to stop in.

stop off, to halt for a brief stay at some point on the way elsewhere: On the way to Rome we stopped off at Florence.

stop out,

to mask (certain areas of an etching plate, photographic negative, etc.) with varnish, paper, or the like, to prevent their being etched, printed, etc.
to withdraw temporarily from school: Most of the students who stop out eventually return to get their degrees.

stop over, to stop briefly in the course of a journey: Many motorists were forced to stop over in that town because of floods.

OTHER WORDS FOR stop

5 thwart, obstruct, impede.

16 quit.

21 halt; termination.

23 terminal.

28 governor.

See synonyms for stop on Thesaurus.com

OPPOSITES FOR stop

1-3 start.

See antonyms for stop on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

TAKE JOY IN ACING THIS QUIZ ON “PRIDE” SYNONYMS

Hold your head up high as you embark on this quiz that explores some of the synonyms and meanings of “pride.”

Question 1 of 7

What does "dignity" mean?

showing self-respect

treating others with kindness

acting selfishly

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms about stop

pull out all the stops,

to use every means available.
to express, do, or carry out something without reservation.

Origin of stop

before 1000; Middle English stoppen (v.), Old English -stoppian (in forstoppian to stop up); cognate with Dutch, Low German stoppen,German stopfen; all ≪ Vulgar Latin *stuppāre to plug with oakum, derivative of Latin stuppa coarse hemp or flax <Greek stýppē

synonym study for stop

3. Stop, arrest, check, halt imply causing a cessation of movement or progress (literal or figurative). Stop is the general term for the idea: to stop a clock. Arrest usually refers to stopping by imposing a sudden and complete restraint: to arrest development. Check implies bringing about an abrupt, partial, or temporary stop: to check a trotting horse. To halt means to make a temporary stop, especially one resulting from a command: to halt a company of soldiers.

OTHER WORDS FROM stop

stopless, adjectivestop·less·ness, nounmul·ti·stop, adjective

Words nearby stop

stoop ball, stoop labor, stoop to, stoor, stoozing, stop, stop and frisk, stop-and-go, stop at nothing, stopbank, stop bath

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use stop in a sentence

Now I have a plausible explanation for how I feel, putting a stop to some of the second-guessing going on in my head.
Everything You Need to Know About Period Tracking|Christine Yu|September 6, 2020|Outside Online
It seems like he’s going to continue to do this until someone puts a stop to it.
“People want to believe”: How Love Fraud builds an absorbing docuseries around a romantic con man|Alissa Wilkinson|September 4, 2020|Vox
That promise was enough to quell a few lawsuits filed by California groups against the federal government for failing to put a stop to the sewage-filled stormwater rolling from Mexico’s hills.
Morning Report: Why COVID-19 Has Hit Latinos So Hard|Voice of San Diego|August 13, 2020|Voice of San Diego
The agency issued a stop sale, use or removal order, which is supposed to prevent the company from selling its product.
Environment Report: One Way to Force Companies to Emit Less Carbon|MacKenzie Elmer|August 10, 2020|Voice of San Diego

The chair of the Uptown Community Parking District board proposed using the funds for cleaning bus stops, but the city said no.
Morning Report: 3 Body Cameras, No Footage|Voice of San Diego|July 22, 2020|Voice of San Diego
But I think Steve Austin has to team up with a Japanese holdout to stop a nuclear bomb from going off or something.
‘Archer’ Creator Adam Reed Spills Season 6 Secrets, From Surreal Plotlines to Life Post-ISIS|Marlow Stern|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
That ground hold was to stop you flying through weather that could kill you and everyone else aboard.
Annoying Airport Delays Might Prevent You From Becoming the Next AirAsia 8501|Clive Irving|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Thankfully there were no casualties—the driver managed to stop the train immediately.
Is Putin Turning to Terrorism in Ukraine?|Anna Nemtsova|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The men were accused of reneging on pledges to stop working for the Iraqi government.
ISIS’s Futile Quest to Go Legit|Jamie Dettmer|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Has L.A. figured out how to stop the epidemic it set loose on the world?
The Daily Beast’s Best Longreads, Dec 29-Jan 4, 2014|William Boot|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
"But I can't stop to argue about it now;" and, saying this, he turned into a side path, and disappeared in the wood.
Davy and The Goblin|Charles E. Carryl
At twelve, or fifteen, or sixteen, or twenty it was decided that they should stop learning.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
He had seen the act committed, he felt sure but had made no effort whatever to stop the thief.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
The Kangaroo can hop and hop and hop; Somehow he never seems to want to stop.
Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I (of 17)|Various
Yet when I stop gazing the next impulse is to move on; for if I have time to rest anywhere, why not at home?
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley

British Dictionary definitions for stop

stop

/ (stɒp) /

verb stops, stopping or stopped

to cease from doing or being (something); discontinuestop talking

to cause (something moving) to halt or (of something moving) to come to a haltto stop a car; the car stopped

(tr) to prevent the continuance or completion ofto stop a show

(tr often foll by from) to prevent or restrainto stop George from fighting

(tr) to keep backto stop supplies to the navy

(tr) to intercept or hinder in transitto stop a letter

(tr often foll by up) to block or plug, esp so as to closeto stop up a pipe

(tr often foll by up) to fill a hole or opening into stop up a wall

(tr) to staunch or stemto stop a wound

(tr) to instruct a bank not to honour (a cheque)

(tr) to deduct (money) from pay

(tr) British to provide with punctuation

(tr) boxing to beat (an opponent) either by a knockout or a technical knockout

(tr) informal to receive (a blow, hit, etc)

(intr) to stay or restwe stopped at the Robinsons' for three nights

(tr) rare to defeat, beat, or kill

(tr) music

to alter the vibrating length of (a string on a violin, guitar, etc) by pressing down on it at some point with the finger
to alter the vibrating length of an air column in a wind instrument by closing (a finger hole, etc)
to produce (a note) in this manner

(tr) to place a hand inside (the bell of a French horn) to alter the tone colour and pitch or play (a note) on a French horn in such a manner

bridge to have a protecting card or winner in (a suit in which one's opponents are strong)

stop at nothing to be prepared to do anything; be unscrupulous or ruthless

noun

an arrest of movement or progress

the act of stopping or the state of being stopped

a place where something halts or pausesa bus stop

a stay in or as if in the course of a journey

the act or an instance of blocking or obstructing

a plug or stopper

a block, screw, or other device or object that prevents, limits, or terminates the motion of a mechanism or moving part

British a punctuation mark, esp a full stop

Also called: stop thrust fencing a counterthrust made without a parry in the hope that one's blade will touch before one's opponent's blade

short for stop payment, stop order

music

the act of stopping the string, finger hole, etc, of an instrument
a set of organ pipes or harpsichord strings that may be allowed to sound as a group by muffling or silencing all other such sets
a knob, lever, or handle on an organ, etc, that is operated to allow sets of pipes to sound
an analogous device on a harpsichord or other instrument with variable registers, such as an electrophonic instrument

pull out all the stops

to play at full volume
to spare no effort

Australian a stud on a football boot

the angle between the forehead and muzzle of a dog or cat, regarded as a point in breeding

nautical a short length of line or small stuff used as a tie, esp for a furled sail

Also called: stop consonant phonetics any of a class of consonants articulated by first making a complete closure at some point of the vocal tract and then releasing it abruptly with audible plosion. Stops include the labials (p, b), the alveolars or dentals (t, d), the velars (k, g)Compare continuant

Also called: f-stop photog

a setting of the aperture of a camera lens, calibrated to the corresponding f-number
another name for diaphragm (def. 4)

a block or carving used to complete the end of a moulding

Also called: stopper bridge a protecting card or winner in a suit in which one's opponents are strong

See also stop down, stop off, stop out, stopover, stops

Derived forms of stop

stoppable, adjective

Word Origin for stop

C14: from Old English stoppian (unattested), as in forstoppian to plug the ear, ultimately from Late Latin stuppāre to stop with a tow, from Latin stuppa tow, from Greek stuppē

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 Idioms and Phrases with stop

stop

In addition to the idioms beginning with stop

stop at nothing
stop by
stop cold
stop in
stop off
stop payment
stop short
stop someone's clock
stop the clock
stop up

also see:

buck stops here
pull out all the stops
put an end (a stop) to

stop

OTHER WORDS FOR stop

OPPOSITES FOR stop

Idioms about stop

Origin of stop

synonym study for stop

OTHER WORDS FROM stop

Words nearby stop

Words related to stop

How to use stop in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for stop

Derived forms of stop

Word Origin for stop

Other Idioms and Phrases with stop