What does "stop" mean?
A (usually marked) place where buses, trams or trains halt to let passengers get on and off, usually smaller than a station.
Stop
/stɒp/ noun, punct, verb, slang
noun, punct, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A (usually marked) place where buses, trams or trains halt to let passengers get on and off, usually smaller than a station.
- Grammar: stop is listed as noun, punct, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: arrest, block, cease, discontinue.
- Useful contrasts: active term, celestial motion, continuous flow.
- Usage evidence: Stop it! You're making her feel uncomfortable!
How to use "stop"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "stop" 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 "stop" 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 "stop" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "stop" 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 "stop" is acting as noun, punct, verb, slang 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 "arrest" 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 "stop", 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 (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 A small well-bucket; a milk-pail. UK, dialectal
- 3 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."
- 4 a brief stay in the course of a journey wordnet
- 5 An action of stopping; interruption of travel.
"That stop was not planned."
Show 28 more definitions
- 6 the act of stopping something wordnet
- 7 That which stops, impedes, or obstructs; an obstacle; an impediment.
"A fatal stop trauerst their headlong course"
- 8 an obstruction in a pipe or tube wordnet
- 9 A device intended to block the path of a moving object
"door stop"
- 10 a restraint that checks the motion of something wordnet
- 11 A device intended to block the path of a moving object; 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.
- 12 a mechanical device in a camera that controls size of aperture of the lens wordnet
- 13 A device intended to block the path of a moving object; A member, plain or moulded, formed of a separate piece and fixed to a jamb, against which a door or window shuts.
- 14 (music) a knob on an organ that is pulled to change the sound quality from the organ pipes wordnet
- 15 A consonant sound in which the passage of air is temporarily blocked by the lips, tongue, or glottis.
- 16 a punctuation mark (‘.’) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations wordnet
- 17 A symbol used for purposes of punctuation and representing a pause or separating clauses, particularly a full stop, comma, colon or semicolon.
- 18 a consonant produced by stopping the flow of air at some point and suddenly releasing it wordnet
- 19 A knob or pin used to regulate the flow of air in an organ.
"The organ is loudest when all the stops are pulled."
- 20 the event of something ending wordnet
- 21 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.
- 22 a spot where something halts or pauses wordnet
- 23 A very short shot which touches the ground close behind the net and is intended to bounce as little as possible.
- 24 the state of inactivity following an interruption wordnet
- 25 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."
- 26 The depression in a dog’s face between the skull and the nasal bones.
"The stop in a bulldog's face is very marked."
- 27 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."
- 28 A part of a photographic system that reduces the amount of light.
- 29 A unit of exposure corresponding to a doubling of the brightness of an image.
- 30 An f-stop.
- 31 The diaphragm used in optical instruments to cut off the marginal portions of a beam of light passing through lenses.
- 32 A coup d'arret, or stop thrust.
- 33 Ellipsis of full stop. UK, abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, informal
Verb
- 1 To cease moving. intransitive
"I stopped at the traffic lights."
- 2 stop and wait, as if awaiting further instructions or developments wordnet
- 3 Not to continue. intransitive
"The riots stopped when police moved in."
- 4 hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of wordnet
- 5 To cause (something) to cease moving or progressing. transitive
"The sight of the armed men stopped him in his tracks."
Show 19 more definitions
- 6 seize on its way wordnet
- 7 To cease; to no longer continue. transitive
"One of the wrestlers suddenly stopped fighting."
- 8 render unsuitable for passage wordnet
- 9 To cause (something) to come to an end. transitive
"The referees stopped the fight."
- 10 cause to end wordnet
- 11 To interrupt, prevent or end the activity of someone or something. causative, transitive
"Don't let me stop you working."
- 12 come to a halt, stop moving wordnet
- 13 To close or block an opening. transitive
"He stopped the wound with gauze."
- 14 interrupt a trip wordnet
- 15 To adjust the aperture of a camera lens. intransitive, often, transitive
"To achieve maximum depth of field, he stopped down to an f-stop of 22."
- 16 stop from happening or developing wordnet
- 17 To stay; to spend a short time; to reside or tarry temporarily. intransitive
"to stop with a friend"
- 18 have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical wordnet
- 19 To regulate the sounds of (musical strings, etc.) by pressing them against the fingerboard with the finger, or otherwise shortening the vibrating part.
- 20 put an end to a state or an activity wordnet
- 21 To punctuate. obsolete
"[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."
- 22 To make fast; to stopper.
- 23 To pronounce (a phoneme) as a stop. transitive
"th-stopping"
- 24 To delay the purchase or sale of (a stock) while agreeing the price for later. transitive
"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."
Punct
- 1 Used to indicate the end of a sentence in a telegram.
Antonyms
active termcelestial motioncontinuous flowcontinuous push
Example
"Stop it! You're making her feel uncomfortable!"
Common questions
What is a synonym for "stop"?
Common synonyms include: arrest, block, cease, discontinue, halt, halt.
How do you use "stop" in a sentence?
Stop it! You're making her feel uncomfortable!
How do you pronounce "stop"?
Pronounced /stɒp/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
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 stoppe (“to stop”), Swedish stoppa (“to stop”), Icelandic 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 similar sounding words in Latin and Romance.
Etymology 2
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”).
Etymology 3
From s- + top.