Definition

1. Noun:

   • A cessation of movement or activity: The act of ceasing to move or function.
   • A place where a vehicle halts: A designated location where a bus, train, etc., regularly pauses to pick up or drop off passengers.
   • A punctuation mark: A period (.) used to indicate the end of a sentence.
   • A mechanical device for halting or regulating: A part that blocks, limits, or controls motion, such as a camera's aperture control or an organ's sound control.
   • An obstruction: Something that blocks a passage or flow.

2. Verb:

   • To cease moving or operating: To come to a halt or to cause something to come to a halt.
   • To prevent from happening or continuing: To bring an action, process, or event to an end.
   • To block or obstruct: To prevent passage or progress.
   • To stay or visit briefly: To pause at a place during a journey.

Examples

• Noun:

  • The car came to a sudden stop.
  • I get off at the next bus stop.
  • Remember to put a stop at the end of the sentence.
  • The plumber removed the stop in the pipe.

• Verb:

  • Please stop the car here.
  • The rain finally stopped.
  • A fallen tree stopped traffic on the road.
  • We stopped in Rome for two days on our trip.

Advanced Usage

• "To put a stop to something": To cause something to end.

  • The new law aims to put a stop to illegal logging.

• "To stop at nothing": To be willing to do anything to achieve a goal, regardless of how extreme.

  • He will stop at nothing to win the election.

• "To stop short of (doing something)": To decide not to take a final, often extreme, action.

  • The critic stopped short of calling the film a complete failure.

Variants and Related Words

• Stoppage (n): An instance of stopping, especially of work due to a strike or a blockage.

  • The factory was closed due to a work stoppage.

• Stopper (n): A plug for sealing a hole, especially in a bottle.

  • He put the stopper back in the wine bottle.

• Non-stop (adj/adv): Without stopping; continuous.

  • We took a non-stop flight to Tokyo.

Synonyms

• Verb: Cease, halt, end, terminate, discontinue, quit.
• Noun: Halt, cessation, standstill, termination.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Stop by: To visit briefly.

  • Could you stop by the store on your way home?

• Stop off: To make a short stop during a journey.

  • We stopped off in Paris for a few hours.

• Stop over: To stay somewhere overnight or for a short period during a long journey.

  • Our flight stops over in Dubai.

• Stop up: To block or fill a hole.

  • We need to stop up that leak in the roof.

Related Idioms

• Pull out all the stops: To make a very great effort to achieve something.

  • They pulled out all the stops to make the wedding perfect.

• A full stop: (British English) Used to emphasize that there is nothing more to say on a matter; a period (.).

  • I'm not going, full stop.

Noun

1. an obstruction in a pipe or tube
   • we had to call a plumber to clear out the blockage in the drainpipe
2. a restraint that checks the motion of something
   • he used a book as a stop to hold the door open
3. a mechanical device in a camera that controls size of aperture of the lens
   • the new cameras adjust the diaphragm automatically
4. (music) a knob on an organ that is pulled to change the sound quality from the organ pipes
   • the organist pulled out all the stops
5. a punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations
   • in England they call a period a stop
6. a consonant produced by stopping the flow of air at some point and suddenly releasing it
   • his stop consonants are too aspirated
7. a spot where something halts or pauses
   • his next stop is Atlanta
8. the state of inactivity following an interruption
   • the negotiations were in arrest
   • held them in check
   • during the halt he got some lunch
   • the momentary stay enabled him to escape the blow
   • he spent the entire stop in his seat
9. a brief stay in the course of a journey
   • they made a stopover to visit their friends
10. the act of stopping something
    • the third baseman made some remarkable stops
    • his stoppage of the flow resulted in a flood
11. the event of something ending
    • it came to a stop at the bottom of the hill

Verb

1. stop and wait, as if awaiting further instructions or developments
   • Hold on a moment!
2. render unsuitable for passage
   • block the way
   • barricade the streets
   • stop the busy road
3. have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical
   • the bronchioles terminate in a capillary bed
   • Your rights stop where you infringe upon the rights of other
   • My property ends by the bushes
   • The symphony ends in a pianissimo
4. seize on its way
   • The fighter plane was ordered to intercept an aircraft that had entered the country's airspace
5. hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of
   • Arrest the downward trend
   • Check the growth of communism in South East Asia
   • Contain the rebel movement
   • Turn back the tide of communism
6. prevent completion
   • stop the project
   • break off the negotiations
7. cause to stop
   • stop a car
   • stop the thief
8. interrupt a trip
   • we stopped at Aunt Mary's house
   • they stopped for three days in Florence
9. stop from happening or developing
   • Block his election
   • Halt the process
10. put an end to a state or an activity
    • Quit teasing your little brother
11. come to a halt, stop moving
    • the car stopped
    • She stopped in front of a store window