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Synonyms

stopwatch

American  
[stop-woch] / ˈstɒpˌwɒtʃ /

noun

  1. a watch with a hand or hands that can be stopped or started at any instant, used for precise timing, as in races.

stopwatch British  
/ ˈstɒpˌwɒtʃ /

noun

  1. a type of watch used for timing events, such as sporting events, accurately, having a device for stopping the hand or hands instantly

"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

Etymology

Origin of stopwatch

First recorded in 1730–40; stop + watch

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.

While it’s quicker and faster than its predecessors, much of the focus seems to be on delivering emotional content rather than stopwatch performance—most obviously, in the presence and sonority of the engine.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 23, 2025

If you could tear your eyes away from the screen enough to check a stopwatch, not one minute goes by without a flourish that’s either funny, ridiculous, stunning or emotional.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 24, 2024

“If I’d had a stopwatch,” she said, “I wouldn’t even have finished pushing down the stopwatch button before the thing was out. It was so easy and fast.”

From Slate • Aug. 23, 2024

The purple stopwatch is visiting Oscar Piastri for a good chunk of time here.

From BBC • May 4, 2024

Bolles looked down at his stopwatch, saw the freshmen’s two-mile time, and looked again.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

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.