pause
A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.
Interjection
- Used immediately after a statement to indicate that there was no innuendo or homosexual meaning intended, especially when such a meaning is a reasonable interpretation.
Synonyms: no homo
Origin
From Middle French pause, from Latin pausa, from Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis), from Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “stop”), of uncertain origin. Doublet of pausa.
Noun
- 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]...
Synonyms: hiatus moratorium recess caesura
- A short time for relaxing and doing something else.
Synonyms: break holiday recess annual leave day off getaway leave leave of absence pause time away time off vac vacation vaca vacay
- Hesitation; suspense; doubt.
- to take pause
- to give pause
- And like a man to double buſsines bound, / I ſtand in pauſe where I ſhall firſt beginne, […] - c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto),...
Synonyms: vacillation wavering
- 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.
- 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...
- A sign indicating continuance of a note or rest.
- Alternative letter-case form of Pause (“a button that pauses or resumes something”).
Forms
Synonyms
break breather cessation demurral gap caesura hiatus halt halting interregnum interruption lapse moratorium pause recess respite resting stoppage stopping suspension
Antonyms
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
intermission interval prorogation stop time-out vacation coffee break comfort stop fag break smoko tea break breaktime half time lunchtime playtime
Related
Derived
aeropause autopause coffee pause Engels' pause filled pause Gigapause give pause hit pause hit the pause button homopause interpause intrapause ionopause Macready pause micropause millennial pause nonpause normal pause Omegapause pause ad pause buffer pause buffering pauseful pauseless
Verb
- To take a temporary rest, take a break for a short period after an effort.
- To stop (an activity) for a while.
- The general public could therefore have been forgiven for thinking that work on the new station had stopped. But pausing work on an active construction site of this size is not straightforward. - 2025 February 19, Chris...
- To interrupt an activity and wait.
- When telling the scary story, he paused for effect.
- Tarry, pause a day or two. - c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- pausing a while thus to herself she mused - 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker,...
- To hesitate; to hold back; to delay.
- Why doth the Jew pause? Take thy forfeiture. - c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
- To halt the play or playback of, temporarily, so that it can be resumed from the same point.
- to pause a song, a video, or a computer game
- Press Start at any time to pause the game. - 2008, “Story Mode”, in Cory in the House: Instruction Booklet, Burbank, California: Disney Interactive Studios; Nintendo, page 9:
- To consider; to reflect.
- Take time to pause. - c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First...