pause

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

• (UK) enPR: pôz, IPA^(key): /pɔːz/
• (US) enPR: pôz, IPA^(key): /pɔz/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: päz, IPA^(key): /pɑz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːz
• Homophones: paws; pores, pours (non-rhotic)

pause (third-person singular simple present pauses, present participle pausing, simple past and past participle paused)

1. (intransitive) To take a temporary rest, take a break for a short period after an effort.
2. (transitive) To stop (an activity) for a while.
   • 2025 February 19, Chris Howe, “Euston: a work in progress”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 44:

     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.

3. (intransitive) To interrupt an activity and wait.

   When telling the scary story, he paused for effect.

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Tarry, pause a day or two.

   • 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, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     pausing a while thus to herself she mused

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 15, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     She paused and took a defiant breath. ‘If you don't believe me, I can't help it. But I'm not a liar.’ ¶ ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’

   • 2020 April 8, “Network News: COVID-19: Questions and Answers”, in Rail, page 11:

     Will this affect HS2 and other major projects?
     [...] Work at the majority of sites has paused, although some staff may be present to ensure the safety and security of these sites and to make safety assessments. [...]

4. (intransitive) To hesitate; to hold back; to delay.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     Why doth the Jew pause? Take thy forfeiture.

5. (transitive) 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

6. (intransitive, obsolete) To consider; to reflect.
   • 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 Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     Take time to pause.

pause (plural pauses)

1. A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.

   Synonyms: hiatus, moratorium, recess, (poetry) caesura; see also Thesaurus:pause

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 374:

     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.

2. A short time for relaxing and doing something else.

   Synonyms: break, holiday, recess; see also Thesaurus:vacation

3. (figurative) Hesitation; suspense; doubt.

   Synonyms: vacillation, wavering

   to take pause ― to hesitate

   to give pause ― to cause to hesitate

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

     And like a man to double buſsines bound, / I ſtand in pauſe where I ſhall firſt beginne, […]

   • 2025 July 27, Sam Levine, quoting Mike Johnson, “Mike Johnson would have ‘great pause’ about a Ghislaine Maxwell pardon”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, said on Sunday he would have “great pause” about granting a pardon or commutation to Ghislaine Maxwell while another House Republican said it should be considered as part of an effort to obtain more information about Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.

4. 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.

5. A break or paragraph in writing.
   • a. 1705 (date written), [John Locke], “[An Essay for the Understanding of St. Paul’s Epistles, […]]”, in A Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for Awnsham and John Churchill, […], published 1707, →OCLC, page xxiii:

     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.

6. (music) A sign indicating continuance of a note or rest.
7. Alternative letter-case form of Pause (“a button that pauses or resumes something”).

pause

2. (slang) 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.

   Synonym: no homo

From Latin pausa, from Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “stop”).

pause c (singular definite pausen, plural indefinite pauser)

1. pause

• pausere

• “pause” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “pause” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

pause

1. partitive plural of paus

   Synonym: pausisid

From Middle French pause (14th c. in the musical sense), from Latin pausa. The Middle French form may be merely a relatinized spelling of Old French pose (“moment, period of time”, 12th c., whence Dutch poos), itself an early borrowing (if not inheritance) from the same Latin noun; at any rate both forms cannot be separated entirely.

• IPA^(key): /poz/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: pauses, pose, posent, poses

pause f (plural pauses)

1. pause, break

   Je prends quelques minutes de pause.

   I'm taking a break for a few minutes.

2. (music) rest

• pause pipi
• pause thé

• pose, poser

• “pause”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

pause f

1. plural of pausa

Borrowed from Latin pausa.

pause f (plural pauses)

1. pause (brief cessation)

• → English: pause
• French: pause

• Etymology and history of “pause”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From Latin pausa, from Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “stop”).

• IPA^(key): /pæʉsə/, [pʰæʉ̯sə], [pʰœʉ̯sə]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æʉsə

pause m (definite singular pausen, indefinite plural pauser, definite plural pausene)

1. a pause, a break (short time for relaxing)

• hvilepause
• kaffepause
• lunsjpause

• “pause” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Latin pausa, from Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “stop”).

pause m (definite singular pausen, indefinite plural pausar, definite plural pausane)

1. a pause or break (short time for relaxing)

• lunsjpause

• “pause” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -awzi, (Portugal) -awzɨ
• Hyphenation: pau‧se

Borrowed from English pause

pause m (plural pauses)

1. (chiefly video games) pause

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

pause

1. inflection of pausar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

pause

1. inflection of pausar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative