pauses

Noun

pause (plural pauses)

1. A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.
   • If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 374

   Synonyms:

   hiatus, moratorium, recess, caesura

2. A short time for relaxing and doing something else.

   Synonyms:

   break, holiday, recess, annual leave, day off, getaway, leave, leave of absence, time away, time off

3. (figuratively) Hesitation; suspense; doubt.
   • to take pause

   Synonyms:

   vacillation, wavering

4. In writing and printing, a mark indicating the place and nature of an arrest of voice in reading; a punctuation mark.
   • Teach the pupil to mind the pauses.
5. A break or paragraph in writing.
   • He [Paul] is full of the Matter he treats and writes with Warmth, which uſually neglects Method, and thoſe Partitions and Pauſes which Men educated in the Schools of Rhetoricians uſually obſerve.a. 1705 (date written), [John Locke], “[An Essay for the Understanding of St. Paul’s Epistles, […]]”, in A Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for...
6. A sign indicating continuance of a note or rest.

See all 14 meanings of pause