Stop vs. Pause — What's the Difference?
Edited by Tayyaba Rehman — By Fiza Rafique — Updated on October 25, 2023
"Stop" means to bring to an end or halt, while "pause" means a temporary break in action without ending. Both refer to cessation, but "stop" is often final, and "pause" is temporary.
Difference Between Stop and Pause
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
"Stop" and "pause" are common terms used to describe the act of halting a process or action. However, the essence of each word varies in duration and intent. To stop something suggests bringing it to a complete end. For instance, when you stop a car, it comes to a full halt, ceasing its movement entirely.
Conversely, "pause" implies a temporary halt with the intent of resuming. In music, when a player pauses, it's a brief cessation before continuing the tune. The concept of pause doesn't imply a complete termination but a brief interruption.
In our daily lives, we might stop a task because we've finished it or because we've chosen not to continue. Yet, we might pause a movie to grab a snack, intending to play it again shortly. Here, "stop" indicates finality, while "pause" suggests a short break.
Furthermore, both terms have applications in technology. For instance, in software or video playback, a "stop" button usually ends the operation, whereas a "pause" button temporarily halts it, allowing for a later continuation.
In essence, while both words indicate some form of halt, "stop" generally points to a complete end, and "pause" indicates a temporary break with the expectation of resumption.
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Comparison Chart
Primary Meaning
To bring to an end or halt.
A temporary break in action.
Duration
Often final or lasting.
Temporary, with an intention to resume.
Examples
Stopping a car, stopping a task.
Pausing a movie, pausing a conversation.
Usage in Technology
Terminates operation.
Temporarily halts operation.
Connotation
Indicates finality.
Suggests a brief interruption.
Compare with Definitions
Stop
To cease movement or action.
The car came to a stop at the red light.
Pause
To temporarily stop an action.
Can we pause the movie? I need some popcorn.
Stop
A location where vehicles pick up or drop off passengers.
I'll wait for you at the bus stop.
Pause
A control on an electronic device to halt playback.
I hit the pause button during the exciting scene.
Stop
(of an event, action, or process) come to an end; cease to happen
His laughter stopped as quickly as it had begun
The rain had stopped and the clouds had cleared
Pause
Interrupt action or speech briefly
She paused, at a loss for words
Stop
Cause (an action, process, or event) to come to an end
This harassment has got to be stopped
Pause
A temporary stop in action or speech
She dropped me outside during a brief pause in the rain
He chattered away without pause
Stop
Block or close up (a hole or leak)
The stile has been stopped up
He tried to stop the hole with the heel of his boot
Pause
To cease or suspend an action temporarily
She paused in her piano exercises to listen for the baby.
Stop
Be or behave in a particular way
‘Why was she so?’ ‘I don't know, you know how dem old people stop.’
Pause
To hesitate
He paused before replying.
Stop
A cessation of movement or operation
There were constant stops and changes of pace
All business came to a stop
Pause
To linger; tarry
We paused for a while under the huge oak tree.
Stop
A set of organ pipes of a particular tone and range of pitch.
Pause
To cease or suspend the action of temporarily; stop for an interim
Paused the printer to add more paper.
Paused the DVD with the remote.
Stop
The effective diameter of a lens.
Pause
A break, stop, or rest, often for a calculated purpose or effect
After a dramatic pause, the lawyer finished her summation.
Stop
To close (an opening or hole) by covering, filling in, or plugging up
The tea leaves stopped the drain.
Pause
A delay or suspended reaction, as from uncertainty; a hesitation
After a pause the audience broke into cheers.
Stop
To constrict (an opening or orifice)
My nose is stopped up.
Pause
Delay or hesitation
Spoke without pause for an hour.
Stop
To obstruct or block passage on (a road, for example).
Pause
Reason for hesitation
The immensity of the task gives one pause.
Stop
To prevent the flow or passage of
Stop supplies from getting through.
Pause
(Music) A sign, such as a fermata, indicating that a note or rest is to be held.
Stop
To halt the motion or progress of
Stopped me and asked directions.
Pause
A break or rest in a line of poetry; a caesura.
Stop
To block or deflect (a blow, for example); parry or ward off.
Pause
A control mechanism on an audio or video player that halts the playing of a recording and permits playing to be easily resumed from the same point.
Stop
To be or get in the way of (a bullet or other missile); be killed or wounded by.
Pause
(intransitive) To take a temporary rest, take a break for a short period after an effort.
Stop
To cause to desist or to change a course of action
The rain stopped us from continuing the argument.
Pause
(intransitive) To interrupt an activity and wait.
When telling the scary story, he paused for effect.
Stop
To prevent or restrain
An invitation to dinner stopped him from going to the movies.
Pause
(intransitive) To hesitate; to hold back; to delay.
Stop
To discontinue or cease
He stopped his complaining.
Pause
(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
Stop
To defeat (an opponent or opposing team).
Pause
To consider; to reflect.
Stop
To defeat in boxing by a knockout or technical knockout.
Pause
A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.
Stop
To order a bank to withhold payment of
Stopped the check.
Pause
A short time for relaxing and doing something else.
Stop
To press down (a string on a stringed instrument) on the fingerboard to produce a desired pitch.
Pause
Hesitation; suspense; doubt.
Stop
To close (a hole on a wind instrument) with the finger in sounding a desired pitch.
Pause
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.
Stop
To cease moving, progressing, acting, or operating; come to a halt
The clock stopped in the night.
Pause
A break or paragraph in writing.
Stop
To put an end to what one is doing; cease
Had to stop at an exciting place in the book.
Pause
(music) A sign indicating continuance of a note or rest.
Stop
To interrupt one's course or journey for a brief visit or stay. Often used with by, in, or off
Stop by at a friend's house.
Stop in at the office.
Stop off at the gas station.
Pause
Alternative spelling of Pause
Stop
The act of stopping or the condition of being stopped
Can't you put a stop to all this ruckus? Production is at a stop.
Pause
Take pause: hesitate; give pause: cause to hesitate
Stop
A halt or stay, as on a trip
We made a stop in Austin.
Pause
A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.
Stop
A place at which someone or something stops
A regular stop on my delivery route.
A bus stop.
Pause
Temporary inaction or waiting; hesitation; suspence; doubt.
I stand in pause where I shall first begin.
Stop
A device or means that obstructs, blocks, or plugs up.
Pause
In speaking or reading aloud, a brief arrest or suspension of voice, to indicate the limits and relations of sentences and their parts.
Stop
An order given to a bank to withhold payment on a check.
Pause
In writing and printing, a mark indicating the place and nature of an arrest of voice in reading; a punctuation point; as, teach the pupil to mind the pauses.
Stop
A stop order.
Pause
A break or paragraph in writing.
He writes with warmth, which usually neglects method, and those partitions and pauses which men educated in schools observe.
Stop
A part in a mechanism that stops or regulates movement.
Pause
A hold. See 4th Hold, 7.
Stop
The effective aperture of a lens, controlled by a diaphragm.
Pause
To make a short stop; to cease for a time; to intermit speaking or acting; to stop; to wait; to rest.
Pausing a while, thus to herself she mused.
Stop
A mark of punctuation, especially a period.
Pause
To be intermitted; to cease; as, the music pauses.
Stop
The act of stopping a string or hole on an instrument.
Pause
To hesitate; to hold back; to delay.
Why doth the Jew pause? Take thy forfeiture.
Stop
A fret on a stringed instrument.
Pause
To stop in order to consider; hence, to consider; to reflect.
Stop
A hole on a wind instrument.
Pause
To cause to stop or rest; - used reflexively.
Stop
A device such as a key for closing the hole on a wind instrument.
Pause
A time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something
Stop
A tuned set of pipes, as in an organ.
Pause
Temporary inactivity
Stop
A knob, key, or pull that regulates such a set of pipes.
Pause
Interrupt temporarily an activity before continuing;
The speaker paused
Stop
(Nautical) A line used for securing something temporarily
A sail stop.
Pause
Cease an action temporarily;
We pause for station identification
Let's break for lunch
Stop
(Linguistics) One of a set of speech sounds that is a plosive or a nasal.
Pause
A short break or rest.
After running, he took a pause to catch his breath.
Stop
A plosive.
Pause
A hesitation or moment of doubt.
There was a pause before he answered the question.
Stop
The depression between the muzzle and top of the skull of an animal, especially a dog.
Pause
An interruption or temporary cessation.
Rain caused a pause in the cricket match.
Stop
(Sports) A save made by a goalie.
Stop
(Games) A stopper.
Stop
(Architecture) A projecting stone, often carved, at the end of a molding.
Stop
A control mechanism on an audio or video player that causes a recording to stop playing.
Stop
Of, relating to, or being of use at the end of an operation or activity
A stop code.
Stop
(intransitive) To cease moving.
I stopped at the traffic lights.
Stop
(intransitive) Not to continue.
The riots stopped when police moved in.
Soon the rain will stop.
Stop
(transitive) To cause (something) to cease moving or progressing.
The sight of the armed men stopped him in his tracks.
This guy is a fraudster. I need to stop the cheque I wrote him.
Stop
(transitive) To cease; to no longer continue (doing something).
One of the wrestlers suddenly stopped fighting.
Please stop telling me those terrible jokes.
Stop
(transitive) To cause (something) to come to an end.
The referees stopped the fight.
Stop
(transitive) To close or block an opening.
He stopped the wound with gauze.
Stop
To adjust the aperture of a camera lens.
To achieve maximum depth of field, he stopped down to an f-stop of 22.
Stop
(intransitive) To stay; to spend a short time; to reside or tarry temporarily.
To stop with a friend
He stopped for two weeks at the inn.
He stopped at his friend's house before continuing with his drive.
Stop
(music) To regulate the sounds of (musical strings, etc.) by pressing them against the fingerboard with the finger, or otherwise shortening the vibrating part.
Stop
(obsolete) To punctuate.
Stop
(nautical) To make fast; to stopper.
Stop
To pronounce (a phoneme) as a stop.
Stop
To delay the purchase or sale of (a stock) while agreeing the price for later.
Stop
A (usually marked) place where buses, trams or trains halt to let passengers get on and off, usually smaller than a station.
Related terms: halt, station.
They agreed to meet at the bus stop.
Stop
An action of stopping; interruption of travel.
That stop was not planned.
Stop
That which stops, impedes, or obstructs; an obstacle; an impediment.
Stop
A device intended to block the path of a moving object
Door stop
Stop
(engineering) 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.
Stop
(architecture) A member, plain or moulded, formed of a separate piece and fixed to a jamb, against which a door or window shuts.
Stop
(linguistics) A consonant sound in which the passage of air through the mouth is temporarily blocked by the lips, tongue, or glottis.
Stop
A symbol used for purposes of punctuation and representing a pause or separating clauses, particularly a full stop, comma, colon or semicolon.
Stop
(music) A knob or pin used to regulate the flow of air in an organ.
The organ is loudest when all the stops are pulled.
Stop
(music) 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.
Stop
(tennis) A very short shot which touches the ground close behind the net and is intended to bounce as little as possible.
Stop
(football) A save; preventing the opposition from scoring a goal
Stop
(zoology) The depression in a dog’s face between the skull and the nasal bones.
The stop in a bulldog's face is very marked.
Stop
(photography) A part of a photographic system that reduces the amount of light.
Stop
(photography) A unit of exposure corresponding to a doubling of the brightness of an image.
Stop
(photography) An f-stop.
Stop
The diaphragm used in optical instruments to cut off the marginal portions of a beam of light passing through lenses.
Stop
(fencing) A coup d'arret, or stop thrust.
Stop
A small well-bucket; a milk-pail.
Stop
(physics) The squark that is the superpartner of a top quark.
Stop
To close, as an aperture, by filling or by obstructing; as, to stop the ears; hence, to stanch, as a wound.
Stop
To obstruct; to render impassable; as, to stop a way, road, or passage.
Stop
To arrest the progress of; to hinder; to impede; to shut in; as, to stop a traveler; to stop the course of a stream, or a flow of blood.
Stop
To hinder from acting or moving; to prevent the effect or efficiency of; to cause to cease; to repress; to restrain; to suppress; to interrupt; to suspend; as, to stop the execution of a decree, the progress of vice, the approaches of old age or infirmity.
Whose disposition all the world well knowsWill not be rubbed nor stopped.
Stop
To regulate the sounds of, as musical strings, by pressing them against the finger board with the finger, or by shortening in any way the vibrating part.
Stop
To point, as a composition; to punctuate.
If his sentences were properly stopped.
Stop
To make fast; to stopper.
Stop
To cease to go on; to halt, or stand still; to come to a stop.
He bites his lip, and starts;Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground;Then lays his finger on his temple: straitSprings out into fast gait; then stops again.
Stop
To cease from any motion, or course of action.
Stop, while ye may, suspend your mad career!
Stop
To spend a short time; to reside temporarily; to stay; to tarry; as, to stop with a friend.
By stopping at home till the money was gone.
Stop
The act of stopping, or the state of being stopped; hindrance of progress or of action; cessation; repression; interruption; check; obstruction.
It is doubtful . . . whether it contributed anything to the stop of the infection.
Occult qualities put a stop to the improvement of natural philosophy.
It is a great step toward the mastery of our desires to give this stop to them.
Stop
That which stops, impedes, or obstructs; as obstacle; an impediment; an obstruction.
A fatal stop traversed their headlong course.
So melancholy a prospect should inspire us with zeal to oppose some stop to the rising torrent.
Stop
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.
Stop
The closing of an aperture in the air passage, or pressure of the finger upon the string, of an instrument of music, so as to modify the tone; hence, any contrivance by which the sounds of a musical instrument are regulated.
The organ sound a time survives the stop.
Stop
In the organ, one of the knobs or handles at each side of the organist, by which he can draw on or shut off any register or row of pipes; the register itself; as, the vox humana stop.
Stop
A member, plain or molded, formed of a separate piece and fixed to a jamb, against which a door or window shuts. This takes the place, or answers the purpose, of a rebate. Also, a pin or block to prevent a drawer from sliding too far.
Stop
A point or mark in writing or printing intended to distinguish the sentences, parts of a sentence, or clauses; a mark of punctuation. See Punctuation.
Stop
The diaphragm used in optical instruments to cut off the marginal portions of a beam of light passing through lenses.
Stop
The depression in the face of a dog between the skull and the nasal bones. It is conspicuous in the bulldog, pug, and some other breeds.
Stop
Some part of the articulating organs, as the lips, or the tongue and palate, closed (a) so as to cut off the passage of breath or voice through the mouth and the nose (distinguished as a lip-stop, or a front-stop, etc., as in p, t, d, etc.), or (b) so as to obstruct, but not entirely cut off, the passage, as in l, n, etc.; also, any of the consonants so formed.
Stop
The event of something ending;
It came to a stop at the bottom of the hill
Stop
The act of stopping something;
The third baseman made some remarkable stops
His stoppage of the flow resulted in a flood
Stop
A brief stay in the course of a journey;
They made a stopover to visit their friends
Stop
The state of inactivity following an interruption;
The negotiations were in arrest
Held them in check
During the halt he got some lunch
The momentary stay enabled him to escape the blow
He spent the entire stop in his seat
Stop
A spot where something halts or pauses;
His next stop is Atlanta
Stop
A consonant produced by stopping the flow of air at some point and suddenly releasing it;
His stop consonants are too aspirated
Stop
A punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations;
In England they call a period a stop
Stop
(music) a knob on an organ that is pulled to change the sound quality from the organ pipes;
The organist pulled out all the stops
Stop
A mechanical device in a camera that controls size of aperture of the lens;
The new cameras adjust the diaphragm automatically
Stop
A restraint that checks the motion of something;
He used a book as a stop to hold the door open
Stop
An obstruction in a pipe or tube;
We had to call a plumber to clear out the blockage in the drainpipe
Stop
Come to a halt, stop moving;
The car stopped
She stopped in front of a store window
Stop
Put an end to a state or an activity;
Quit teasing your little brother
Stop
Stop from happening or developing;
Block his election
Halt the process
Stop
Interrupt a trip;
We stopped at Aunt Mary's house
They stopped for three days in Florence
Stop
Cause to stop;
Stop a car
Stop the thief
Stop
Prevent completion;
Stop the project
Break off the negociations
Stop
Hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of;
Arrest the downward trend
Check the growth of communism in Sout East Asia
Contain the rebel movement
Turn back the tide of communism
Stop
Seize on its way;
The fighter plane was ordered to intercept an aircraft that had entered the country's airspace
Stop
Have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical;
The bronchioles terminate in a capillary bed
Your rights stop where you infringe upon the rights of other
My property ends by the bushes
The symphony ends in a pianissimo
Stop
Render unsuitable for passage;
Block the way
Barricade the streets
Stop the busy road
Stop
Stop and wait, as if awaiting further instructions or developments;
Hold on a moment!
Stop
To put an end to something.
We need to stop this argument now.
Stop
To prevent or obstruct.
The barrier will stop intruders from entering.
Stop
To discontinue an activity.
She decided to stop her studies temporarily.
Common Curiosities
Can "stop" imply prevention?
Yes, as in "stop someone from doing something."
What's the main distinction between Stop and Pause?
"Stop" indicates a complete end, while "pause" implies a temporary halt with an intention to continue.
Can both terms be used interchangeably in daily conversation?
While contextually similar, "stop" suggests finality, whereas "pause" indicates a brief interruption.
How do "stop" and "pause" function in electronic devices?
"Stop" often terminates playback or operation, while "pause" temporarily halts it.
Does "stop" always mean permanently ending something?
Not always, but it typically indicates a more definitive halt than "pause."
Can "pause" indicate doubt?
Yes, it can refer to a moment of hesitation or uncertainty.
Is a "pause" always short-lived?
Not necessarily, but it implies an intention or possibility to resume.
Can traffic lights illustrate the difference between the two?
Yes, red signals "stop" (a complete halt), while yellow suggests "pause" (a temporary stop).
How does a "pause" function in music?
It represents a momentary break in the sound or rhythm.
Is a "pause" button the same as a "stop" button on a remote?
No, "pause" temporarily halts playback, while "stop" often ends it.
Do both words have the same roots?
No, "stop" has Germanic origins, while "pause" comes from Latin.
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Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
Edited by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
