grind to a halt
idiom
of a machine
: to stop working or moving forward
The machinery slowly ground to a halt.
—often used figurativelyWithout more money, work on the project will soon grind to a halt.
Examples of grind to a halt in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Except for 2020—the year of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw travel grind to a halt—the number of Thanksgiving air travelers over the past few years has hovered between 5 and 6 million, the automotive body said.
—
Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2025
Ticket sales nearly ground to a halt without any new releases, as well as the misfortune of the spooky holiday landing on Friday (meaning families were trick-or-treating, not visiting their local movie theater).
—Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 2 Nov. 2025
Trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan has ground to a halt as major border crossings remain closed.
—NPR, 31 Oct. 2025
Meanwhile, defense attorneys for criminal defendants who cannot afford lawyers have already seen months go by without pay due to an early depletion of funds appropriated for them, and plaintiffs challenging government policies have sometimes seen their cases slow down or grind to a halt.
—Zach Schonfeld, The Hill, 29 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for grind to a halt
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Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2025
Ticket sales nearly ground to a halt without any new releases, as well as the misfortune of the spooky holiday landing on Friday (meaning families were trick-or-treating, not visiting their local movie theater).
—Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 2 Nov. 2025
Trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan has ground to a halt as major border crossings remain closed.
—NPR, 31 Oct. 2025
Meanwhile, defense attorneys for criminal defendants who cannot afford lawyers have already seen months go by without pay due to an early depletion of funds appropriated for them, and plaintiffs challenging government policies have sometimes seen their cases slow down or grind to a halt.
—Zach Schonfeld, The Hill, 29 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for grind to a halt
Cite this Entry
“Grind to a halt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grind%20to%20a%20halt. Accessed 29 Nov. 2025.
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