halt

1 of 4

verb (1)

ˈhȯlt 

halted; halting; halts

intransitive verb

1

: to cease marching or journeying

2

: discontinue, terminate

the project halted for lack of funds

transitive verb

1

: to bring to a stop

the strike halted subways and buses

2

: to cause the discontinuance of : end

halt hostilities

halt

2 of 4

noun

: stop

The car came to a halt.

brought production to a halt

halt

3 of 4

verb (2)

halted; halting; halts

intransitive verb

1

: to walk or proceed with a limp

… that dogs bark at me as I halt by them.

—William Shakespeare

2

: to be in a state of uncertainty or doubt between alternate courses or choices : waver

3

: to display weakness or imperfection : falter

The argument often halts and sometimes breaks down completely.

halt

4 of 4

adjective

archaic

: having a manner of walking that is impaired by a limp

… there is a place for everyone … old and young, hale and halt …

—Sir Winston Churchill

Synonyms

Verb (1)

• arrest
• bring up
• catch
• check
• draw up
• fetch up
• hold up
• pull up
• stall
• stay
• still
• stop

Noun

• deadlock
• gridlock
• impasse
• logjam
• Mexican standoff
• stalemate
• standoff
• standstill

Verb (2)

• hobble
• limp

Examples of halt in a Sentence

Verb (1)

traffic was halted by the parade

the private eye abruptly halted his surveillance of the building upon being spotted by his subject

all filming halted when the star of the movie quit in a huff

Noun

They put a halt to the rumors.

The car skidded to a halt.

Verb (2)

even with her twisted ankle, she managed to halt along and complete her Walk for Peace

she was often confused, halting between the responsibilities of her job and the demands of her home life

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Mitsubishi Mirage Mitsubishi previously announced plans to halt production for the Mirage, a compact hatchback, for the U.S. market late this year. —Bailey Schulz, USA TODAY, 18 Dec. 2024

The decision to halt the legislation — at least temporarily — was reached by top executive, legislative and judiciary bodies, Dabiri also said. —Amir Vahdat and Nasser Karimi, Los Angeles Times, 18 Dec. 2024

Noun

The previous year Atlanta’s troubled son Young Thug was shut behind bars on RICO charges, bringing his output to a halt. —Maurice Garland, SPIN, 19 Dec. 2024

Business as usual ground to a halt when the WHO declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, about four months after the virus was first detected in Wuhan, China. —Benedict Cosgrove, Newsweek, 19 Dec. 2024

Adjective

The coronavirus crisis dealt another serious blow to Blackpool, leaving businesses struggling as tourism ground to a halt ‌during nationwide lockdowns. —Megan Specia, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2022

This is when the fairytale comes crashing to a halt smack-dab in the middle of the Footprint Center. —Jeremy Cluff, The Arizona Republic, 6 Dec. 2021

Word History

Etymology

Verb (1)

derivative of halt entry 2

Noun

borrowed from 16th-century German Halt "stop, pause" (in Halt machen "to pause for a rest, take a break"), noun derivative of halten "to hold entry 1, stop"

Note: The word was initially used in a military context, in the phrase make halt. Early variants alto, alt, show mediation from a Romance word.

Verb (2)

Middle English halten, going back to Old English healtian, weak verb derivative of healt "impaired by a limp, lame" — more at halt entry 4

Adjective

Middle English, going back to Old English healt, going back to Germanic *halta- (whence also Old Frisian & Old Saxon halt "lame, limping," Middle Dutch hout, halt, Old High German halz, Old Icelandic haltr, Gothic halts), going back to dialectal Indo-European *koldo-, whence probably also Old Irish coll "spoiling, injury, destruction," Welsh coll "loss, hurt, damage"

Note: Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen (vol. 4, columns 792-93) connects this etymon with the Indo-European verbal base *kelh₂- "hit, strike" (see clastic), assuming that a derivative with root extension *kolh₂do- would lose its laryngeal in the environment KoRHK. Compare holt, clado-.

First Known Use

Verb (1)

1656, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Noun

circa 1598, in the meaning defined above

Verb (2)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing halt

• a crashing halt
• bring a halt to
• call a halt to
• come to a grinding halt
• come to a halt
• draw to a halt/stop
• grind to a halt
• screeching/crashing halt
• screech to a halt/stop

Kids Definition

halt

1 of 4 adjective

ˈhȯlt 

archaic

: unable or only partially able to use a body part and especially an arm or a leg

halt

2 of 4 verb

1

: limp entry 1 sense 1

2

: to move unsteadily

halt

3 of 4 noun

: the ending of movement, progress, or action

call a halt

halt

4 of 4 verb

1

: to stop marching or journeying

2

: to bring to a stop : end

Etymology

Adjective

Old English healt "lame"

Noun

from German halt "stop," derived from earlier halten "to hold"