1
as in to stop
to bring (something) to a standstill
traffic was halted by the parade
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2
as in to cease
to bring (as an action or operation) to an immediate end
the private eye abruptly halted his surveillance of the building upon being spotted by his subject
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3
as in to end
to come to an end
all filming halted when the star of the movie quit in a huff
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1
as in to limp
to walk while favoring one leg
even with her twisted ankle, she managed to halt along and complete her Walk for Peace
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2
as in to hesitate
to show uncertainty about the right course of action
she was often confused, halting between the responsibilities of her job and the demands of her home life
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1
as in standstill
a point in a struggle where neither side is capable of winning or willing to give in
negotiations are at a halt, with neither management nor the union budging on the issue of salary limits
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2
as in cessation
the stopping of a process or activity
gardening came to a halt during the week of solid rain
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as in paralyzed
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of halt
Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 27 Mar. 2025
Angels in the Asylum was mounted without its financing fully in place and had to halt filming in February, 15 days into a month-long shoot.
—Jake Kanter, Deadline, 27 Mar. 2025
Katie Moore, Kansas City Star, 7 Apr. 2025
Plans for Boise’s lone food truck park to become bigger and better this spring have screeched to a halt.
—Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman, 5 Apr. 2025
Natnicha Chuwiruch, Bloomberg.com, 9 Oct. 2020
In addition to full-time jobs for recent graduates, many spring and summer internships came to a halt mid-program or were canceled before the summer began due to the pandemic.
—Kaitlin Edquist, chicagotribune.com, 4 Aug. 2020
See All Example Sentences for halt
Verb
But halting her work now would mean skipping a final assessment for at least 20 people, to check their viral load and determine their next course of treatment.
—Noun
Dashboard camera video shows officers speed down Prospect and come to a halt near the two smoking vehicles.
—Adjective
Minor posted its biggest quarterly loss in the three months ended June and has cut thousands of jobs to stay afloat after the pandemic ground to a halt global travel and tourism.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for halt
Noun
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Then Covid-19 brought the world to a standstill and Florida still hasn't fully recovered.—
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With Trump’s reciprocal tariffs against dozens of U.S. trading partners due to hit Wednesday, the Wall Street investment bank sees gross domestic product growth coming to a near standstill and core inflation ending the year well above the central bank’s 2% target.—
Noun
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Forbes is protected by reCAPTCHA, and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Cuts to smoking prevention and cessation programs, for example, don’t square with the aim of decreasing rates of chronic disease.—
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Any deal that eases sanctions or normalizes Russia's global standing should come with an end to weapons transfers to Iran and Syria and a cessation of military cooperation that enhances Iran's nuclear and missile programs.—
Adjective
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Before the polio vaccine was introduced in 1955, tens of thousands of children were catching the disease every year; thousands of them died, and more were left paralyzed.—
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Because tariffs are a type of taxation, Mr. Trump’s plan is among the largest tax increases in decades, analysts say, a policy change that sent the stock market reeling, paralyzed corporate investment and shoved the economy closer to a recession.—
Noun
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For lunch there are soups, salads, quiches and toasts, such as avocado toast or peanut butter and jam.—
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After a pair of visits by pitching coach Pete Maki, Alcalde got out of the jam by striking out Yordan Alvarez looking and getting Christian Walker to fly out.—
Noun
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As previously reported, the actor is set to reprise his role on the offshoot, and this bit of info from Harvey, tying Hardman to Ted’s Big Bad, certainly helps piece together the why and how, as does, possibly, the episode’s ending.—
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Drake was also accused of refusing to identify a person who rewrote the ending of the film, and who was not a guild member.—
Adjective
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As holidays go, however, Flag Day can feel a bit lame.—
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My 11-year-old loved watching the pups roll balls and play a giant floor piano, but for non-dog owners (guilty as charged), parts of the series—like dressing dogs in little hats and outfits for a Parisian fashion show—feel lame.—
Noun
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The race is nonpartisan, but the incoming supervisor will break the 2-2 deadlock between the two Democrats and the two Republicans on the current Board of Supervisors.—
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The ongoing deadlock raises the risk of direct conflict between the U.S. and Iran in an already unstable Middle East, where an American aircraft carrier strike group is leading a U.S. military operation against the Houthi militants in Yemen.—
Noun
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The end of the parole program is part of Trump’s crackdown on legal immigration paths that allow people to temporarily come to the U.S. Republicans also criticized the parole program as an overreach and abuse of executive presidential power.—
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While the million-token context window is impressive, OpenAI’s data suggests that model accuracy can decrease when processing information at the extreme end of that scale, indicating a need for testing and validation for specific long-context use cases.—
Cite this Entry
“Halt.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/halt. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.
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