stonewall

verb

stone·​wall ˈstōn-ˌwȯl 

stonewalled; stonewalling; stonewalls

intransitive verb

1

chiefly British : to engage in obstructive parliamentary debate or delaying tactics

2

: to be uncooperative, obstructive, or evasive

… because the … government chose to stonewall, reporters had few other places to turn for facts.

—William F. Allman

transitive verb

: to refuse to comply or cooperate with

stonewaller noun

Did you know?

The earliest English stonewalls were literal; they were walls made from stone. Because a stone wall can be difficult to surmount, English speakers began using stonewall figuratively for things or people who either were persistent and enduring or who presented an obstacle as formidable as a stone wall. (Those figurative senses earned American Confederate Civil War General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson his nickname.) Then, in the late 1800s, cricket players began using stonewall as a verb in reference to a batter's defensive blocking of balls. Around the same time, stonewall found its way into political slang as a synonym of filibuster. There is also a chiefly British sense of "to engage in obstructive parliamentary debate or delaying tactics."

Examples of stonewall in a Sentence

They stonewalled until they could come up with a response.

They were just stonewalling for time.

They're trying to stonewall the media.

We're trying to get the information, but we're being stonewalled.

Recent Examples on the Web

Notably, Levy isn’t stonewalling on public access. —Jeremy Talcott, Oc Register, 27 May 2026

Wade’s game-tying shot attempt was stonewalled in the waning seconds. —Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 23 May 2026

Replimune has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for information on the review process, but the FDA has stonewalled its requests. —ABC News, 6 May 2026

This problem has worsened significantly in the decade since, as Iran systematically stonewalled inspectors. —Benjamin Weinthal, FOXNews.com, 23 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1880, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Rhymes for stonewall

• aerosol
• alcohol
• arbitral
• basketball
• butanol
• cannonball
• carbinol
• cortisol
• ethanol
• fireball
• gasohol
• gossypol

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