Word.ws English Dictionary

stop

/stɒp/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/stɔp/

stop verb: to cease moving. Also the ellipsis of full stop.

Verb

stop (third-person singular simple present stops, present participle stopping, simple past and past participle stopped)

  1. (intransitive) To cease moving.
    • I stopped at the traffic lights.
    Synonyms:
    brake
  2. (intransitive) Not to continue.
    • The riots stopped when police moved in.
    • Soon the rain will stop.
    Synonyms:
    blin
  3. (transitive) To cause (something) to cease moving or progressing.
    • The sight of the armed men stopped him in his tracks.
    • This guy is a fraudster. I need to stop the cheque I wrote him.
  4. (transitive) To cease; to no longer continue.
    • One of the wrestlers suddenly stopped fighting.
    Antonyms:
    keep
  5. (transitive) To cause (something) to come to an end.
    • The referees stopped the fight.
    Synonyms:
    blin
  6. (causative, transitive) To interrupt, prevent or end the activity of someone or something.
    • Don't let me stop you working.
    • When they have finished the milk they must be patted and squeezed to stop them exploding.1988, Jeanne Willis, Tony Ross, Dr Xargle's Book of Earthlets
  7. (transitive) To close or block an opening.
    • He stopped the wound with gauze.
    • Rotten leaves and branches have stopped the gutter.
  8. (intransitive, often, transitive) To adjust the aperture of a camera lens.
    • To achieve maximum depth of field, he stopped down to an f-stop of 22.
  9. (intransitive) To stay; to spend a short time; to reside or tarry temporarily.
    • to stop with a friend
    • He stopped for two weeks at the inn.
    Synonyms:
    hang about, lodge
  10. To regulate the sounds of (musical strings, etc.) by pressing them against the fingerboard with the finger, or otherwise shortening the vibrating part.
  11. (obsolete) To punctuate.
    • [Francesco] Guicciardini, if his sentences were properly stopt, would be found in general both full and concise, whatever may be asserted to the contrary by the fastidious and inattentive.1826, Walter Savage Landor, “Conversation XIII. [Vittorio] Alfieri and Salomon, the Florentine Jew.”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn...
  12. To make fast; to stopper.
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  1. (transitive) To pronounce (a phoneme) as a stop.
    • th-stopping
  2. (transitive) To delay the purchase or sale of (a stock) while agreeing the price for later.
    • It will be noted that the specialist would have refused to stop the stock for broker X if he (the specialist) had only one order to sell at 85.1952, Charles Amos Dice, Wilford John Eiteman, The Stock Market, page 144
  3. To take out of service for repair, servicing or examination.
    • The mechanical foreman is also present, and he gives a progress report of engines under repair and those stopped for their periodical routine examination.1960 April, A. W. Bennett, “A Locomotive Shedmaster's Day”, in Railway Magazine, page 272
  4. To quit partaking in the use of or participation in (something).
    • She stopped heroin last year.
    • He stopped football to focus on acting.

Noun (1)

stop (plural stops)

  1. A (usually marked) place where buses, trams or trains halt to let passengers get on and off, usually smaller than a station.
    • They agreed to meet at the bus stop.
  2. An action of stopping; interruption of travel.
    • That stop was not planned.
    • It is […] doubtful […] whether it contributed anything to the stop of the infection.1722, Daniel Defoe, Journal of the Plague Year
  3. That which stops, impedes, or obstructs; an obstacle; an impediment.
    • A fatal stop trauerst their headlong course1595, Samuel Daniel, “(please specify the folio number)”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: […] P[eter] Short for Simon Waterson...
    • So melancholy a prospect should inspire us with zeal to oppose some stop to the rising torrent.a. 1729, John Rogers, The Advantages of conversing with good Men
  4. A device intended to block the path of a moving object
    • door stop
    1. A device, or piece, as a pin, block, pawl, etc., for arresting or limiting motion, or for determining the position to which another part shall be brought.
    2. A member, plain or moulded, formed of a separate piece and fixed to a jamb, against which a door or window shuts.
  5. A consonant sound in which the passage of air is temporarily blocked by the lips, tongue, or glottis.
    Synonyms:
    plosive, occlusive
  6. A symbol used for purposes of punctuation and representing a pause or separating clauses, particularly a full stop, comma, colon or semicolon.
  7. A knob or pin used to regulate the flow of air in an organ.
    • The organ is loudest when all the stops are pulled.
  8. One of the vent-holes in a wind instrument, or the place on the wire of a stringed instrument, by the stopping or pressing of which certain notes are produced.
  9. A very short shot which touches the ground close behind the net and is intended to bounce as little as possible.
  10. A save; preventing the opposition from scoring a goal.
    • The Foxes were indebted to two crucial saves from keeper Kasper Schmeichel, who turned former Leicester defender Ben Chilwell's header on to a post then produced an even better stop to turn Mason Mount's powerful shot wide.2021 May 15, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 0-1 Leicester”, in BBC Sport
  11. The depression in a dog’s face between the skull and the nasal bones.
    • The stop in a bulldog's face is very marked.
  12. A marking on a rabbit's hind foot.
    • The American Rabbit Breeders Association holds that the stops of a Dutch rabbit should be white from the toes to one third of the way along the foot.
Show 5 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A part of a photographic system that reduces the amount of light.
  2. A unit of exposure corresponding to a doubling of the brightness of an image.
  3. An f-stop.
  4. The diaphragm used in optical instruments to cut off the marginal portions of a beam of light passing through lenses.
  5. A coup d'arret, or stop thrust.

Punctuation

stop

  1. Used to indicate the end of a sentence in a telegram.

Noun (2)

stop (plural stops)

  1. (UK, dialectal) A small well-bucket; a milk-pail.

Noun (3)

stop (plural stops)

  1. The squark that is the superpartner of a top quark.
    • For neutralino masses below approximately 700 GeV, gluino masses of less than 1.78 TeV and 1.76 TeV are excluded at the 95% CL in simplified models of the pair production of gluinos decaying via sbottom and stop, respectively.2016, ATLAS Collaboration, “Search for pair production of gluinos decaying via stop and sbottom in events with b-jets and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √=13 TeV with the ATLAS...

Also used as

stop is also the ellipsis of full stop.

stop meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

stop in Hindi

to cease moving
रुकना ruknā, ठहरना ṭhaharnā, रहना rahnā, अटकना aṭaknā
to cause to cease moving — see also detain
रोकना roknā
not to continue — see also cease, desist
रुकना ruknā, ठहरना ṭhaharnā, अटकना aṭaknā, रहना rahnā
to cease; to no longer continue (doing something) — see also cease
रुकना ruknā

stop in Tamil

to cease moving
நில் nil
to cause to cease moving — see also detain
தடு taṭu, நிறுத்து niṟuttu
not to continue — see also cease, desist
நில் nil
to cause to come to an end — see also discontinue
நில் nil

stop in Marathi

to cause to cease moving — see also detain
थांबवणे thāmbavṇe
to cease; to no longer continue (doing something) — see also cease
बंद करणे banda karṇe
to stay a while
थांबणे thāmbṇe
to tarry
थांबणे thāmbṇe

stop in Urdu

to cease moving
رکنا ruknā
to cause to cease moving — see also detain
روکنا roknā
More languagesFewer languages
stop in Bengali
থামা thama, দাঁড়ানো dãṛanō, থামানো thamanō, আটকানো aṭkanō
stop in Telugu
ఆగు āgu, ఆపు āpu, ఉండు uṇḍu
stop in Malayalam
നിൽക്കുക nilkkuka, നിർത്തുക niṟttuka
stop in Kannada
ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿ, ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸುವುದು, ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸು
stop in Punjabi
ਰੁਕਣਾ
stop in Gujarati
અટકવું aṭakvũ
stop in Odia
ଅଟକିବା, ଅଟକି ଯାଆନ୍ତୁ
stop in Nepali
रोक्ने
stop in Pashto
درېدل darədᶕl
stop in Tagalog
babaan, tigil
stop in Arabic
وَقَفَ waqafa, تَوَقَّفَ tawaqqafa, وقف wiʔif, وَقَّف wəggəf
stop in Malay
berhenti, memberhentikan, perhentian
stop in Indonesian
berhenti
stop in Persian
ایستادن istâdan, نگه داشتن negah dâštan, بازداشتن bâzdâštan, بازایستادن bâzistâdan
stop in Thai
หยุด yùt, ป้ายรถเมล์ bpâai-rót-mee
stop in Vietnamese
dừng lại, dừng, ngừng, ngưng
stop in Myanmar
ရပ် rap
Kashmiri
رُکُن rukun, ٹھٔہرُن ṭhạhrun, رُکاوُن rukāvun, ٹھٔہراوُن ṭhạhrāvun

Examples of stop in a sentence

  • I've had the cracks in the wall stopped with mortar by the builders.
  • He stopped at his friend's house before continuing with his drive.
  • The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
  • Stopping high-speed trains wastes energy and time, so why not simply slow them down enough for a moving platform to pull alongside?2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):
  • Springhaven had done so well last week, that this week it meant to do still better, by stopping at home till the money was gone, and making short work afterwards.1886 April – 1887 April, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, “The Maroon”, in Springhaven. A Tale of the Great War. […], volume I, London: Sampson...
  • Occult qualities put a stop to the improvement of natural philosophy.1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours...

All 40 example sentences with stop

Synonyms of stop

21 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of stop

Forms of stop

Verb
third-person singular presentstops
present participlestopping
past participlestopped
paststopped
alternative formstahp
alternative formstawp
second-person singular present (archaic)stoppest
second-person singular past (archaic)stoppedst
third-person singular present (archaic)stoppeth
alternative form (obsolete, dialectal)stap
Noun
pluralstops

Past tense of stop: stopped

Plural of stop: stops

Origin of stop

From Middle English stoppen, stoppien, from Old English stoppian (“to stop, close”), from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn, from Proto-Germanic *stuppōną (“to stop, close”), *stuppijaną (“to push, pierce, prick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp-, *(s)tewb- (“to push; stick”), from *(s)tew- (“to bump; impact; butt; push; beat; strike; hit”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian stopje (“to stop, block”), West Frisian stopje (“to stop”), Dutch stoppen (“to stop”), Low German stoppen (“to stop”), German stopfen (“to be filling, stuff”), German stoppen (“to stop”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål stoppe (“to stop”), Icelandic, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish stoppa (“to stop”), Middle High German stupfen, stüpfen (“to pierce”). More at stuff, stump. Alternative etymology derives Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn from an assumed Vulgar Latin *stūpāre, *stuppāre (“to stop up with tow”), from stūpa, stīpa, stuppa (“tow, flax, oakum”), from Ancient Greek στύπη (stúpē), στύππη (stúppē, “tow, flax, oakum”). This derivation, however, is doubtful, as the earliest instances of the Germanic verb do not carry the meaning of "stuff, stop with tow". Rather, these senses developed later in response to influence...

From Middle English stoppe, from Old English stoppa (“bucket, pail, a stop”), from Proto-Germanic *stuppô (“vat, vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teub- (“to push, hit; stick, stump”). See stoup. Cognates Cognate with Norwegian stopp, stoppa (“deep well, recess”), Middle High German stubech, stübich (“barrel, vat, unit of measure”) (German Stübchen). Related also to Middle Low German stōp (“beaker, flask”), Middle High German stouf (“beaker, flask”), Norwegian staupa (“goblet”), Icelandic staupa (“shot-glass”), Old English stēap (“a stoup, beaker, drinking vessel, cup, flagon”). Cognate to Albanian shtambë (“amphora, bucket”).

From s- + top.

Words formed from stop

Phrases with stop

138 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with stop

44 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about stop

What does stop mean?
Stop means to cease moving.
What is stop in Hindi?
Stop in Hindi is रुकना (ruknā), ठहरना (ṭhaharnā), रहना (rahnā). See Stop meaning in Hindi.
How do you use stop in a sentence?
I've had the cracks in the wall stopped with mortar by the builders.
What part of speech is stop?
Stop can be a verb, a noun or a punctuation.
How do you pronounce stop?
Stop is pronounced /stɒp/ (UK).
What is the past tense of stop?
The past tense of stop is stopped.

Words near stop in the dictionary

  1. stoozed
  2. stoozer
  3. stoozers
  4. stoozes
  5. stoozing
  6. stop
  7. stop a bullet
  8. stop and chop
  9. stop and frisk
  10. stop and frisks
  11. stop and go light

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stop (page history and authors); stop (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stop (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stop (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stop (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: En-uk-a stop.ogg, en-us-stop.ogg.

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