What does "stall" mean?
A compartment for a single animal in a stable or cattle shed.
Stall
/stɔl/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A compartment for a single animal in a stable or cattle shed.
- Grammar: stall is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: booth, kiosk, procrastinate, stand.
- Useful contrasts: celestial motion, civil progress policies, civil progress policy.
- Usage evidence: I bought this old clock at an antique stall in the market.
How to use "stall"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "stall" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "stall" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "stall" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "stall" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "stall" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "booth" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "stall", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A compartment for a single animal in a stable or cattle shed. countable
- 2 An action that is intended to cause, or actually causes, delay.
"His encounters with security, reception, the secretary, and the assistant were all stalls until the general manager's attorney arrived."
- 3 a tactic used to mislead or delay wordnet
- 4 A stable; a place for cattle.
"His Fellow ſought what Lodging he could find: At laſt he found a Stall where oxen ſtood, And that he rather choſe than lie abroad."
- 5 Loss of lift due to an airfoil's critical angle of attack being exceeded, normally occurring due to low airspeed.
"The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the asymmetric stall and the ensuing roll of the aircraft because of the uncommanded retraction of the left wing outboard leading edge slats and the loss of stall warning and slat disagreement indication systems resulting from maintenance-induced damage leading to the separation of the No. 1 engine and pylon assembly at a critical point during takeoff. The separation resulted from damage by improper maintenance procedures which led to failure of the pylon structure."
Show 16 more definitions
- 6 small area set off by walls for special use wordnet
- 7 A bench or table on which small articles of merchandise are exposed for sale.
"Now he goes on, and ſings of fairs and ſhows, For ſtill new fairs before his eyes aroſe. How pedlars' ſtalls with glitt'ring toys are laid, The various fairings of the country maid."
- 8 small individual study area in a library wordnet
- 9 A small open-fronted shop, for example in a market, food court, etc. countable
"He looked in vain into the stalls for the butcher who had sold fresh meat twice a week, on market days [...]"
- 10 a booth where articles are displayed for sale wordnet
- 11 A small partitioned space or roomlet used for a shower or a toilet.
"Rabbit eases from the king-size bed, goes into their bathroom with its rose-colored one-piece Fiberglas tub and shower stall, and urinates into the toilet of a matching rose porcelain."
- 12 a compartment in a stable where a single animal is confined and fed wordnet
- 13 A seat in a theatre close to and (about) level with the stage; traditionally, a seat with arms, or otherwise partly enclosed, as distinguished from the benches, sofas, etc. countable
- 14 seating in the forward part of the main level of a theater wordnet
- 15 An Heathen altar, typically an indoor one, as contrasted with a more substantial outdoor harrow. Germanic
"In a private rite, a ring is drawn on the ground around a harrow or before an indoor stall."
- 16 a malfunction in the flight of an aircraft in which there is a sudden loss of lift that results in a downward plunge wordnet
- 17 A seat in a church, especially one next to the chancel or choir, reserved for church officials and dignitaries.
- 18 A church office that entitles the incumbent to the use of a church stall.
"He had battled like a man, and gotten a man's reward — no silver tea-pots or salvers, with flowery inscriptions setting forth his virtues and the appreciation of a genteel parish; no fat living or stall, for which he never looked, and didn't care; […]"
- 19 A sheath to protect the finger.
- 20 The space left by excavation between pillars.
- 21 A parking stall; a space for a vehicle in a parking lot or parkade.
Verb
- 1 To put (an animal, etc.) in a stall. transitive
"to stall an ox"
- 2 To employ delaying tactics against. transitive
"He stalled the creditors as long as he could."
- 3 deliberately delay an event or action wordnet
- 4 To fatten.
"to stall cattle"
- 5 To employ delaying tactics; to stall for time. intransitive
"Soon it became clear that she was stalling to give him time to get away."
Show 19 more definitions
- 6 come to a stop wordnet
- 7 To live in, or as if in, a stall; to dwell. obsolete
"I must perforce Haue ſhewne to thee ſuch a declining day, Or looke on thine: we could not ſtall together In the whole world."
- 8 To come to a standstill. intransitive
"[...] the 4-4-0 unhappily stalled after a stop on Reading Old Bank with its eight-coach load and the Reading Up Line pilot, a "Hall", had to bank the train into Reading General."
- 9 cause an engine to stop wordnet
- 10 To place in an office with the customary formalities; to install.
"Deck'd in thy rights , as thou art stall'd in mine"
- 11 To cause to stop making progress; to hinder; to slow down; to delay or forestall. transitive
"In Barnhouse's mind, their screwed-up childhoods have left homosexuals stalled at an adolescent point in the normal progression of psycho-social development. Unable to attain the "normal" gender identification and separation from mother, they are forced to lead incomplete lives and thus remain "immature.""
- 12 cause an airplane to go into a stall wordnet
- 13 To forestall; to anticipate.
"This is not to be staled by my report, This only must be told: […]"
- 14 To exceed the critical angle of attack, resulting in loss of lift. intransitive
"The thrust levers were advanced, the first officer selected the go-around mode for the flight director, and he started to increase the pitch of the aircraft to the command bar indications, 10 degrees nose up. About one second after the first officer acknowledged the go-around, the stick shaker (stall warning) activated. As the aircraft reached 10 degrees nose up, about one and one-half seconds after the stick shaker activated, the captain called flaps and selected them to the go-around setting, the warbler tone associated with the stall protection system (SPS) sounded, and the aircraft stalled aerodynamically. The aircraft rolled right to approximately 55 degrees of bank, and the right wing tip contacted the runway about 2700 feet from the threshold and 45 feet left of the centre line, the right wing tip bending upwards about four feet from the tip."
- 15 experience a stall in flight, of airplanes wordnet
- 16 To keep close; to keep secret.
"You haue diſcharg'd this honeſtlie, keepe it to your ſelfe, […] praie you leaue mee, ſtall this in your boſome, and I thanke you for your honeſt care: I will ſpeake with you further anon."
- 17 To cause to exceed the critical angle of attack, resulting in loss of lift. transitive
"The pilot stalled the plane by pulling the nose up too high at a slow airspeed."
- 18 put into, or keep in, a stall wordnet
- 19 To plunge into mire or snow so as not to be able to get on; to set; to fix.
"to stall a cart"
- 20 postpone doing what one should be doing wordnet
- 21 To stop suddenly. intransitive
- 22 To cause the engine of a manual-transmission car or truck to stop by going too slowly for the selected gear. transitive
- 23 To be stuck, as in mire or snow; to stick fast. obsolete
- 24 To be tired of eating, as cattle. obsolete
Antonyms
Example
"I bought this old clock at an antique stall in the market."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "stall"?
Common synonyms include: booth, kiosk, procrastinate, stand, acrobatics, aerobatics.
How do you use "stall" in a sentence?
I bought this old clock at an antique stall in the market.
How do you pronounce "stall"?
Pronounced /stɔl/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English stall, stalle, from Old English steall (“standing place, position”), from Proto-Germanic *stallaz, from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to place, put, post, stand”). Cognate with French étal, Italian stallo, German Stall, Swedish stall.
Etymology 2
From Middle English stallen (“to abide, dwell, place in a location, stop, come to a standstill”), partly from Old French estaler, ultimately from the same origin as Etymology 1 (see above); and partly from Middle English stalle (“fixed position, stall”).