Word.ws English Dictionary

gave pause

gave pause is the simple past of give pause.

Meaning of give pause

Verb

give pause (third-person singular simple present gives pause, present participle giving pause, simple past gave pause, past participle given pause)

  1. (idiomatic) To cause (someone) to hesitate and think carefully about something, giving (the person) cause to be unsure or concerned about something.
    • I was going to put up the new logo, since a majority of people like it a little better than the old one, but the ferocity of those who think it's terrible gives me pause.

Questions about gave pause

What is gave pause the simple past of?
Gave pause is the simple past of give pause.

Words near gave pause in the dictionary

  1. gave one's right arm
  2. gave one's word
  3. gave oneself airs
  4. gave out
  5. gave over
  6. gave pause
  7. gave paw
  8. gave pursuit
  9. gave rise to
  10. gave somebody time
  11. gave someone a big head

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gave pause (page history and authors); give pause (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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