Word.ws English Dictionary

gives pause

gives pause is the third-person singular simple present indicative 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 gives pause

What is gives pause the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Gives pause is the third-person singular simple present indicative of give pause.

Words near gives pause in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gives 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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