1.
If you describe a bad situation as ~, you mean it never gets better, changes, or ends.
Their grandfather had left his village in order to escape the ~ poverty.
ADJ: ADJ n
~ly
Nursing was ill-paid and ~ly hard work.
ADV: ADV adj
2.
If you say that something comes to a ~ halt, you are emphasizing that it stops very suddenly, especially before it was meant to.
A car will come to a ~ halt if you put water in the petrol tank.
PHRASE: PHR after v emphasis
3.
see also grind