full stops

Noun

full stop (plural full stops)

1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK) The punctuation mark ⟨.⟩ (indicating the end of a sentence or marking an abbreviation).
   • the final period / the final full stop2002, Sarah Kane, 4.48 Psychosis, Methuen, →ISBN, page 41

   Synonyms:

   period, dot

2. (figuratively) A decisive end to something.
   • [S]pielberg was keen to stress that The Fabelmans is not a full stop: “It is not because I decided to retire, and this is my swan song, don’t believe that.”2022 October 22, Wendy Ide, quoting Steven Spielberg, “‘It’s a way to bring my mum and dad back’: Steven Spielberg on the new wave of cine-memoirs”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms:

   hard stop

3. A complete stop.
   • The train moved slowly, very slowly, but at least it was moving, and the customers were grateful even for indecisive motion going their way. Just outside the Nassau border, in Queens, the train came to a full stop.1978 February 26, Richard F. Shepard, “ABOUT LONG ISLAND: 7 Hours to Manhasset, and So Forth”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...

   Synonyms:

   point, -x

See all 4 meanings of full stop