pause

B1 Topic:Time

US /pɔz/ UK /pɔːz/ See IPA manual

Freq #7597

Meanings

1

noun
A short stop in activity or speech before continuing.

There was a long pause before she answered the question.
2

verb
To stop doing something for a short time before continuing.

He paused for a moment to catch his breath.
3

verb
To temporarily stop a song, video, or game so it can be continued later.

She paused the film to answer the phone.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a short stop in activity or... break

2 verb · to stop doing something for... hesitate break

More breather caesura cessation demurral gap halt halting hiatus interregnum interruption lapse

Opposites

finish

Word family

Forms pausedpausespausing

Derived forms aeropauseautopausegigapausehomopauseinterpauseintrapauseionopausemicropausenonpausenonpausingomegapausepausable

Related forms delay desist

Etymology

From Middle French pause, from Latin pausa, from Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis), from Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “stop”), of uncertain origin. Doublet of pausa.

pause Middle French pausa Latin παῦσις Ancient Greek παύω Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

External links

# pause

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /pɔz/
**IPA (UK):** /pɔːz/
**Frequency rank:** 7597

## Meanings
1. A short stop in activity or speech before continuing.
2. To stop doing something for a short time before continuing.
3. To temporarily stop a song, video, or game so it can be continued later.

## Examples
- There was a long pause before she answered the question.
- He paused for a moment to catch his breath.
- She paused the film to answer the phone.

## Synonyms
- break
- breather
- caesura
- cessation
- demurral
- gap
- halt
- halting
- hiatus
- interregnum
- interruption
- lapse

## Antonyms
- finish

## Derived Forms
- aeropause
- autopause
- gigapause
- homopause
- interpause
- intrapause
- ionopause
- micropause
- nonpause
- nonpausing
- omegapause
- pausable

## Related Forms
- delay
- desist

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: pause
- Root: pausa
- Root: παῦσις
- Root: παύω

## Etymology
From Middle French pause, from Latin pausa, from Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis), from Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “stop”), of uncertain origin. Doublet of pausa.

## AI Etymology
Pause comes from Middle French pause, from Latin pausa, from Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis), from Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “stop”), of uncertain origin. Doublet of pausa. Modern senses include a short stop in activity or speech before continuing and to stop doing something for a short time before continuing. The wider word family includes derivatives such as aeropause, autopause, gigapause, homopause, interpause, and intrapause and related forms such as delay and desist.

## Topics
- Time

markdown

pause

Meanings

Thesaurus

Common collocations

Etymology

Topics

External links

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback