pause
Americannoun
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pauses
plural
-
a temporary stop or rest, especially in speech or action.
a short pause after each stroke of the oar.
- Synonyms:
- lacuna, hiatus, halt, break, interruption, suspension
-
a cessation of activity because of doubt or uncertainty; a momentary hesitation.
- Synonyms:
- lacuna, hiatus, halt, break, interruption, suspension
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any comparatively brief stop, delay, wait, etc..
I would like to make a pause in my talk and continue after lunch.
- Synonyms:
- lacuna, hiatus, halt, break, interruption, suspension
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a break or rest in speaking or reading to emphasize meaning, grammatical relation, metrical division, etc., or in writing or printing by the use of punctuation.
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Prosody. a break or suspension, as a caesura, in a line of verse.
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Music. a fermata.
verb (used without object)
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pauses,
present (3rd person singular)
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paused,
past participle, past
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pausing
present participle
idioms
verb
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to cease an action temporarily; stop
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to hesitate; delay
she replied without pausing
noun
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a temporary stop or rest, esp in speech or action; short break
-
prosody another word for caesura
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Also called: fermata. music a continuation of a note or rest beyond its normal length
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to cause to hesitate
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonpausenoun
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pausernoun
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pausingnoun
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pausaladjective
-
pausefuladjective
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pauselessadjective
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unpausingadjective
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pausefullyadverb
-
pauselesslyadverb
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pausinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pausesimple
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pausessimple
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have pausedperfect
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has pausedperfect
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am pausingprogressive
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are pausingprogressive
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is pausingprogressive
-
have been pausingperfect progressive
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has been pausingperfect progressive
Past
-
pausedsimple
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had pausedperfect
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was pausingprogressive
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were pausingprogressive
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had been pausingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pause
First recorded in 1400–50; (for the noun) Middle English, from Latin pausa, from Greek paûsis “a halt,” from paú(ein) “to stop” + -sis -sis; verb derivative of the noun
Explanation
The noun pause means "a short break," like the pauses in television shows that allow for commercials to be shown. Pause can also be a verb that means "to stop for a short time." Teachers, for example, often pause after making an important point to check that students understand and to give them time to ask questions. Pause which rhymes with laws and cause, comes from the Greek word pausis, "stopping, ceasing," which comes from pauein "to stop, to cause to cease." Why don't you pause and think about that for a moment.
Vocabulary lists containing pause
The Best Starting Words for Wordle
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"Thank You, M'am"
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"Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson
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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 a choice is given, or if State Farm is offered up, we want the person to at least pause for a moment. That’s a win.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
If there were a pause in new AI development, it would slow the training of the next models, but current models could continue to serve customers, analysts said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Around the same time as the IPO filing, Anthropic published a lengthy essay arguing why a global effort to pause AI development was a good idea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Lady Justice Thirlwall refused the requests to pause the inquiry.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
I pause on the porch, allowing the heat to soak into my skin, but a handful of pesky mosquitos start buzzing around me.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
“When the Fed goes into action, it rarely moves once. We expect one more hike in December, but the Fed then pauses as inflation moderates,” said the Morgan Stanley economists.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
Everyone I speak to says that even if their company pauses, others will not and they will just get left behind.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Paul will appear in a limited capacity, primarily through the previously filmed footage and confessionals following production pauses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
That means it can cover huge portions of the sky without lengthy pauses between observations.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026
She pauses there, staring hard at me for a moment, and then her face does a funny thing.
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
The government has disclosed plans to overhaul approval processes for data center investments and paused the development of 166 new data centers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Production at the business, which employs about 1,300 people, was paused several months ago, with staff put on furlough on reduced wages.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Truist and Fifth Third Bank have also paused new sales of Delaware Life annuities, Bloomberg has reported.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
It argued that if it unilaterally paused its work, its less cautious rivals would dominate the industry, making it less safe overall.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
“Well …” The witch paused, and I waited, certain she was about to tell me some great mystery, a secret that would make everything clear.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
But on Friday evening, after multiple requests for comment from the Tribune about its findings, Abbott’s office said the governor was pausing all state funding for local grants to be used for Flock cameras.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
The Argentine league will pay tribute to Lionel Messi after his retirement from international football by pausing all of their matches in the 10th minute this weekend for a minute of applause.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
In July, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the nation’s first statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data centers, pausing certain environmental permits for up to one year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
He issued a temporary order pausing the case and allowing construction to continue while the justices decide on a pending legal challenge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Dylan pauses Sorcerer’s Stone, which, wow, dude never pauses a game, but he’s pausing a movie we’ve seen over a dozen times.
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
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.
