stop short

idiom

: to stop or be stopped just before doing or reaching something

I had to slam on the brakes when the car in front of me stopped short.

He was about to say something, then stopped short.

—often + of

The boss said that she was unhappy with some employees, but she stopped short of naming which ones.

The running back was stopped short of the goal line.

Examples of stop short in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Still, Harmon’s activity is reflective of a political culture in Springfield where officials talk a good game about the importance of ethics in government but routinely stop short of adopting robust laws governing their conduct. —Ray Long, Chicago Tribune, 8 June 2025

To their credit, the writers stop short of springing miracles to ensure a happy ending, and actually inject a note of realism with a third-act Plan B that, in real life, real people would have proposed a lot earlier. —Joe Leydon, Variety, 23 May 2025

And though the prequel series’ showrunners stop short of confirming that Lala died on the scene (read their full Q&A), this chain of events reveals why Gibbs never shared this story before. —Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 28 Apr. 2025

However, many leaders stop short of viewing channel partnerships through this customer-first lens—and doing so can set organizations up to miss big opportunities for sustainable growth. —Susana Cabrera, Forbes.com, 18 Apr. 2025

Rhymes for stop short

• abort
• airport
• alport
• athwart
• carport
• comport
• consort
• deport
• distort
• escort
• exhort
• extort