haltverb [ I or T ]
uk/hɒlt/us/hɑːlt/to (cause to) stop moving or doing something or happening:
"Halt!" called the guard. "You can't go any further without a permit."
Production has halted at all of the company's factories because of the pay dispute.
Security forces halted the demonstrators by blocking the road.
More examples
- The government has had to take measures to halt the population explosion.
- The government must take measures, he said, to halt the country's slide into recession.
- The ever-increasing demand for private cars could be halted by more investment in public transport.
- Filming was halted after the lead actor became ill.
- Building at the site was halted after human remains were unearthed earlier this month.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Causing something to end
- abandon
- all good things (must) come to an end idiom
- and have done with it idiom
- be over the hump idiom
- bitter
- draw
- lay
- lay sth to rest idiom
- lay the ghost of sth (to rest) idiom
- leave it at that idiom
- leave off (sth/doing sth)
- let sb be idiom
- lift
- raise
- stone-dead
- the curtain falls on sth idiom
- to the bitter end idiom
- top sth off
- walk
- walk away
See more results »
haltnoun [ S ]
uk/hɒlt/us/hɑːlt/an occasion when something stops moving or happening:
the recent halt in production
Severe flooding has brought trains to a halt (= prevented them from moving) on several lines in Scotland.
The bus came to a halt (= stopped) just in time to avoid hitting the wall.
If traffic increases beyond a certain level, the city grinds to a halt (= stops completely).
The car screeched to a halt (= stopped suddenly and noisily) just as the lights turned red.
call a halt to sth
to prevent something from continuing:
How many more people will have to die before they call a halt to the fighting?
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Staying and remaining
- closeted
- hang
- hold
- hold sb over
- keep to somewhere
- leave
- leftover
- residual
- rest
- sit tight idiom
- sojourn
- stand
- stay
- stay behind
- stop
- tarry
- vestigial
- wait
- wait behind
- wait for sb
See more results »
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Cancelling and interrupting
Causing something to end