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pause

American  
[pawz] / pɔz /

noun

  1. 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

  2. a cessation of activity because of doubt or uncertainty; a momentary hesitation.

    Synonyms:
    lacuna, hiatus, halt, break, interruption, suspension

  3. 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

  4. 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.

  5. Prosody. a break or suspension, as a caesura, in a line of verse.

  6. Music. a fermata.

verb (used without object)

paused, pausing

  1. to make a brief stop or delay; wait; hesitate.

    He paused at the edge of the pool for a moment. I'll pause in my lecture so we can all get some coffee.
    Synonyms:
    rest

  2. to dwell or linger (usually followed by on orupon ).

    to pause upon a particular point.
    Synonyms:
    delay, tarry

idioms

  1. give pause, to cause to hesitate or be unsure, as from surprise or doubt.

    These frightening statistics give us pause.
pause British  
/ pɔːz /

verb

  1. to cease an action temporarily; stop

  2. to hesitate; delay

    she replied without pausing
"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

noun

  1. a temporary stop or rest, esp in speech or action; short break

  2. prosody another word for caesura

  3. Also called: fermata.  music a continuation of a note or rest beyond its normal length

  4. to cause to hesitate

"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
pause More Idioms  

  1. see give pause.

Other Word Forms

  • nonpause noun
  • pausal adjective
  • pauseful adjective
  • pausefully adverb
  • pauseless adjective
  • pauselessly adverb
  • pauser noun
  • pausing noun
  • pausingly adverb
  • unpausing adjective

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

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.

The same year, Harry Styles paused during a performance in Colombia because fans in the front row were telling him: "We can't breathe."

From BBC

At the time, Super Micro’s compliance department had paused shipments of servers to an Asian company that, according to prosecutors, was used as a pass-through to hide the servers’ ultimate destination in China.

From The Wall Street Journal

That saves me time and helps me pause before trusting AI-generated information—even if I still have to follow up with my own fact-checking.

From The Wall Street Journal

He agreed with Katz that the city should pause its use of water from the area until Mono Lake can rise.

From Los Angeles Times

It paused cuts last year when tariffs threatened to push inflation higher, then resumed as the job market weakened.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.