pause

See also: Pause, pausé, and -pause

English

Etymology

From Middle French pause, from Latin pausa, from Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis). Compare the doublet pausa.

Pronunciation

• (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
• Homophone: paws
• Homophones: pores, pours (in non-rhotic accents)

Verb

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. (intransitive) To interrupt an activity and wait.

   When telling the scary story, he paused for effect.

   • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)

     Tarry, pause a day or two.

   • John Milton (1608-1674)

     pausing while thus to herself she mused

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 15, in The China Governess^[1]:

     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?’

3. (intransitive) To hesitate; to hold back; to delay.
   • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)

     Why doth the Jew pause? Take thy forfeiture.

4. (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

5. (intransitive, obsolete) To consider; to reflect.
   • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)

     Take time to pause.

Translations

to take a temporary rest or break

• Maori: okioki, whakamatua

to interrupt something

• Arabic: تَوَقَّفَ‏‎ (tawaqqafa)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 停頓 (zh), 停顿 (zh) (tíngdùn), 暫停 (zh), 暂停 (zh) (zàntíng)

• Dutch: pauzeren (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: pysähtyä (fi), tauota (fi), tauottaa pitää tauko
• French: faire une pause, pauser (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: pausieren (de), innehalten (de)
• Ido: pauzar (io)
• Italian: mettere in pausa
• Japanese: 中断する (ja) (ちゅうだんする, chūdan suru), 途切れる (とぎれる, togireru)

• Khmer: បង្អង់ (km) (bɑŋ’ɑŋ)
• Latvian: pārtraukt
• Lithuanian: pertraukti
• Maori: okioki
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: pauza (pl), przerwa (pl)
• Portuguese: pausar
• Russian: де́лать па́узу (délatʹ páuzu)
• Spanish: pausar (es), interrumpir (es), suspender (es)
• Swedish: pausa (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Noun

pause (plural pauses)

1. A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 23, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     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. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.

2. A short time for relaxing and doing something else.
3. Hesitation; suspense; doubt.
   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

     I stand in pause where I shall first begin.

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.
   • John Locke (1632-1705)

     He writes with warmth, which usually neglects method, and those partitions and pauses which men educated in schools observe.

6. Alternative spelling of Pause (“a button that pauses or resumes something”)
7. (as direct object) take pause: hesitate; give pause: cause to hesitate

Derived terms

• pregnant pause

Translations

temporary stop or rest

• Arabic: تَوَقُّف‏‎ m (tawaqquf), وَقْف‏‎ m (waqf)
• Armenian: դադար (hy) (dadar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 停頓 (zh), 停顿 (zh) (tíngdùn), 暫停 (zh), 暂停 (zh) (zàntíng)

• Czech: přestávka (cs) f, pauza (cs) f
• Dutch: pauze (nl) c
• Esperanto: paŭzo
• Finnish: pysähdys (fi), tauko (fi), keskeytys (fi), väliaika (fi), lepoaika, katko (fi)
• French: pause (fr) f
• Georgian: შესვენება (šesveneba), პაუზა (ṗauza)
• German: Pause (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: παῦσις f

  Modern: παύση f

• Hebrew: אתנח‏‎ (etnah)
• Hungarian: szünet (hu)
• Ido: pauzo (io)
• Italian: pausa (it) f

• Japanese: 休止 (ja) (きゅうし, kyūshi), 中断 (ja) (ちゅうだん, chūdan)
• Korean: 멈춤 (meomchum)
• Latvian: pārtraukums m
• Lithuanian: pauzė
• Malay: jeda
• Maori: whakamatuatanga, okiokinga
• Polish: pauza (pl)
• Portuguese: pausa (pt) f
• Romanian: pauză (ro)
• Russian: па́уза (ru) f (páuza), остано́вка (ru) f (ostanóvka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: станка f, одмор m

  Roman: stanka (sh) f, odmor (sh) m

• Slovene: pavza f, odmor m
• Spanish: pausa (es) f
• Swedish: paus (sv) c
• Welsh: saib m

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pausa.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• Homophone: pose

Noun

pause f (plural pauses)

1. pause, break
2. (music) rest

Further reading

• “pause” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Italian

Noun

pause f

1. plural of pausa

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Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pausa.

Noun

pause f (plural pauses)

1. pause (brief cessation)

Descendants

• English: pause (borrowed)
• French: pause

References

• “pause” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

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

Noun

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

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

Derived terms

• hvilepause
• kaffepause
• lunsjpause

References

• “pause” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

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

Noun

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

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

Derived terms

• lunsjpause

References

• “pause” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Portuguese

Verb

pause

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of pausar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of pausar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of pausar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of pausar

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Spanish

Verb

pause

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of pausar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of pausar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of pausar.