What does "estoppel" mean?

A legal principle in the law of equity that prevents a party from asserting otherwise valid legal rights against another party because of conduct by the first party, or circumstances to which the first party has knowingly contributed, making it unjust for those rights to be asserted.

What is a synonym for "estoppel"?

Common synonyms include: foreclosure, forestalling, halt, prevention, prohibition, sanction.

Estoppel

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A legal principle in the law of equity that prevents a party from asserting otherwise valid legal rights against another party because of conduct by the first party, or circumstances to which the first party has knowingly contributed, making it unjust for those rights to be asserted. common, countable, uncountable
2
a rule of evidence whereby a person is barred from denying the truth of a fact that has already been settled wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

foreclosure forestalling halt prevention prohibition sanction

Etymology

From Middle English *estoppel (found only as stoppel, stoppell, stopple, etc.), probably from Old French estoupail, estopail, estopaille, a bung made of oakum (étoupe), from Latin stuppa ("flax, tow"), from Ancient Greek στύππη (stuppē).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.