I. pause 1 W3 /pɔːz $ pɒːz/ BrE AmE verb
1 . [intransitive] to stop speaking or doing something for a short time before starting again
pause for
She paused for a moment.
He paused for breath, then continued up the hill.
‘No,’ he replied, without pausing for thought.
pause to do something
Joe paused to consider his answer.
2 . [intransitive and transitive] to push a button on a tape player, CD player, computer etc in order to make a tape, CD etc stop playing for a short time
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COLLOCATIONS
■ adverbs
▪ briefly
At the doorway she paused briefly.
▪ momentarily (=for a very short time)
He paused momentarily, then knocked twice more.
▪ dramatically
'They have offered us a lot of money.' She paused dramatically.
■ phrases
▪ pause (for) a moment
He paused for a moment, seemingly overcome by emotion.
▪ pause for breath
She had to pause for breath after every two or three steps.
▪ pause for thought
'Of course,' she replied, without pausing for thought.
▪ pause for effect (=in order to make people eager to hear what you are going to say)
'Now I know what to do,' Brown said, pausing for effect.
▪ pause only to do something
He paused only to make a few notes, and left.
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THESAURUS
▪ pause to stop speaking or stop doing something for a very short time before starting again. Pause is used especially in written descriptions. In everyday spoken English, people usually just say stop :
She paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at the clock.
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He paused, waiting for Larry to say something.
▪ hesitate to stop for a moment and wait before doing something, because you feel unsure or nervous about it:
She hesitated for a moment before replying.
▪ have/take a break to stop working for a short time in order to rest, eat etc:
We’re all getting tired. Let’s take a break for ten minutes.
▪ adjourn formal if a meeting or court adjourns or is adjourned, it stops for a short time:
If there are no more questions, the committee will adjourn until tomorrow morning.
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The trial was adjourned because one of the defendants was ill.
▪ take five especially American English informal to stop for a short time in order to rest:
Let’s take five and get some coffee.
▪ break off to suddenly stop speaking, especially because you see, hear, or think of something:
He broke off his conversation when he saw Mary running towards him.
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She broke off and looked embarrassed, then said, ‘I’ll explain later.’
II. pause 2 BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: pausa , from Greek pausis , from pauein 'to stop' ]
1 . a short time during which someone stops speaking or doing something before starting again:
There was a pause while Alice changed the tape.
After a long pause, she went on.
pause in
an awkward pause in the conversation
2 . ( also pause button ) a control which allows you to stop a ↑ CD player , ↑ video recorder etc for a short time and start it again
3 . a mark over a musical note, showing that the note is to be played or sung longer than usual
4 . give somebody pause (for thought) to make someone stop and consider carefully what they are doing:
an avoidable accident that should give us all pause for thought
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COLLOCATIONS
■ adjectives
▪ a long pause
There was a long pause before anyone spoke.
▪ a brief/short/slight pause
"Well, that was a surprise," he said after a brief pause.
▪ a momentary pause (=very short)
There was a momentary pause during which Mr Hammond glanced at his wife.
▪ an awkward pause
After an awkward pause, Ray began to answer my question.
▪ a dramatic pause (=one that has a dramatic effect)
In the dramatic pause before she replied, you could feel the tension in the room.
▪ a pregnant pause (=one that is full of meaning or emotion)
‘OK. Let’s move on,’ said the President after a pregnant pause.