Word.ws English Dictionary

showstopper

showstopper noun: a performance or segment of a theatrical production that induces a positive audience reaction strong enough to pause the production.

Noun

showstopper (plural showstoppers)

  1. A performance or segment of a theatrical production that induces a positive audience reaction strong enough to pause the production.
  2. Any impediment that prevents all further progress.
    1. A software bug that must be fixed before any further development is possible.

Synonyms of showstopper

Forms of showstopper

pluralshowstoppers
alternative formshow-stopper
alternative formshow stopper

Origin of showstopper

From show + stopper.

Questions about showstopper

What does showstopper mean?
Showstopper means a performance or segment of a theatrical production that induces a positive audience reaction strong enough to pause the production.
What part of speech is showstopper?
Showstopper is a noun.
What is the plural of showstopper?
The plural of showstopper is showstoppers.

Words near showstopper in the dictionary

  1. showsful
  2. showster
  3. showsters
  4. showstone
  5. showstones
  6. showstopper
  7. showstoppers
  8. showstopping
  9. showstoppingly
  10. showt
  11. showtime

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: showstopper (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-showstopper.wav.

Cite this entry: “showstopper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/showstopper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.