1. Fastener consisting of a narrow strip of welded metal used to join steel members
   "The welder installed stoppings to secure the steel beams";
   - fillet
    
2. The kind of playing that involves pressing the fingers on the strings of a stringed instrument to control the pitch
   "the violinist's stopping was excellent"

1. Come to a halt, cease moving
   "the car stopped"; "She stopped in front of a store window";
   - halt
    
2. Put an end to a state or an activity
   "stop teasing your little brother";
   - discontinue, cease, give up, quit, lay off, break, break off, surcease [archaic]
    
3. Cause to end
   "stop a car"; "stop the thief"
    
4. Prevent from happening or developing
   "stop the process";
   - halt, block, kibosh [informal], kybosh [informal]
    
5. Interrupt a trip
   "we stopped at Aunt Mary's house"; "they stopped for three days in Florence"; "we stopped over at Aunt Mary's house";
   - stop over
    
6. Hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of
   "stop the growth of communism in South East Asia";
   - check, turn back, arrest, contain, hold back
    
7. Seize on its way
   "The police stopped the suspicious package before it reached its destination";
   - intercept
    
8. Have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical
   "Your rights stop where you infringe upon the rights of other";
   - end, finish, terminate, cease
    
9. Render unsuitable for passage
   "stop the busy road";
   - barricade, block, blockade, block off, block up, bar
    
10. Stop and wait, as if awaiting further instructions or developments
    "stop a moment!";
    - hold on

Derived forms: stoppings

See also: keep

Type of: alter, block, break, catch, change, close up, cut off, defend, disrupt, end, fastener, fastening, fixing, forbid, foreclose, forestall, grab, holdfast, impede, interrupt, jam, modify, obstruct, obturate, occlude, playing, preclude, prevent, terminate, vary

Antonym: begin, start

Encyclopedia: Stop, Texas