doorstop

noun

door·​stop ˈdȯr-ˌstäp 

1

: a usually rubber-tipped device attached to a wall or floor to prevent damaging contact between an opened door and the wall

2

: a device (such as a wedge or weight) for holding a door open

Examples of doorstop in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Cole, a sociologist and Columbia University’s former dean of faculties, offers a doorstop history of the modern research university that doubles as an unusually perceptive defense of these schools. —Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 21 July 2025

The Joy of Cooking Everyone should have a cookbook like this, a doorstop that is almost more encyclopedia than manual. —Hayley Maitland, Vogue, 7 June 2025

Whether as a doorstop box, remastered single album, or three-CD overview, Load remains a reminder of a very specific musical moment, when the various competing versions of rock remained a subject of vigorous debate: Metallica threw on some makeup and stoked the flames. —Joe Gross, Rolling Stone, 12 June 2025

My favorite contributions in this dense but rewarding doorstop are from Wright. —Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 2 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1878, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for doorstop

• atop
• backdrop
• backstop
• bebop
• blacktop
• bookshop
• clatsop
• desktop
• eavesdrop
• estop
• hardtop
• hilltop