stopper
Americannoun
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a person or thing that stops.
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a plug, cork, bung, or other piece for closing a bottle, tube, drain, or the like.
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Informal. something or someone that commands attention, as an unusual window display or a flamboyant person.
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Cards. a card in a suit that prevents the successive taking of all tricks in the suit by the opponents.
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Baseball Slang. a formidably and consistently effective pitcher counted on to win, as a team's best starting pitcher or a superior reliever often called on to preserve a victory; pitching ace.
verb (used with object)
noun
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Also: stopple. a plug or bung for closing a bottle, pipe, duct, etc
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a person or thing that stops or puts an end to something
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bridge another name for stop
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of stopper
Explanation
A stopper is plug or a cork — it's designed to block the opening of a container by fitting partially inside it. The rubber plug you use to keep your bath water from going down the drain is a type of stopper. The cork in the neck of a wine bottle is a stopper . Other kinds of stoppers halt or prevent something. A crime stopper keeps criminals at bay, and a conversation stopper is something you say that is so awkward or profound that no one can think of anything to say in response.
Vocabulary lists containing stopper
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:
He turned into a trusted defensive stopper, timely three-point shooter and steady leader for the team.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Ilkay Gundogan executed his effort with perfection, lacing a ferocious, dipping strike into David de Gea's top corner, the Manchester United stopper only able to watch it fly in.
From BBC ● May 15, 2026
Drivers have long wanted to put a permanent stopper on stop-start.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
The Czech Republic stopper, 22, endured a nightmare start and interim boss Igor Tudor quickly replaced him with Guglielmo Vicario.
From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026
She returned to her work, continuing to stopper bottles as if they hadn't even arrived.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Originally made in the 1800s for carrying beer, glass bottles with stoppers are popular, thanks to their classic design.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025
But with football continuing to evolve, goalkeepers are not just shot stoppers and used as deep-lying playmakers to open up a new dimension of play.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2025
As teams build their rosters each offseason, they look for shooters such as Knecht, for defensive stoppers such as Jarred Vanderbilt, for offensive initiators or enforcers or for shot blockers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2025
But as the Kent E-FIT debacle reminds us, such pencil pushers still have a lot to teach our modern-day crime stoppers, and even the fanciest image model can’t beat a trained sketch artist just yet.
From Slate ● May 1, 2024
Marie-Laure can hear the aquaria bubble and the woman inhale and the rubber stoppers on the stool legs beneath her squeak as she shifts.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
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.
