as in hesitated
to come to a temporary halt in one's activity
he paused for a moment to regain his composure
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Recent Examples of paused
After months of escalating community concern, the plan was temporarily paused in January.
—
Patrick Sisson, Scientific American, 9 Mar. 2026
Having recently passed previous Heat captain Udonis Haslem for the franchise record for defensive rebounds, Adebayo paused to also take stock of reaching 10,000 points.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 9 Mar. 2026
In February, Canadian and Russian air carriers paused trips to Cuba due to the country’s jet fuel reserves running dry.
—Carlos De Loera, Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2026
This oil is not just paused; it is physically locked away from ever being produced through the wellbore.
—Siddharth Misra, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2026
This includes a live-action take on Tangled, which is back in active development after THR reported last year that the film’s progress had been paused in light of Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot’s live-action Snow White underperforming at the box office.
—Ryan Gajewski, HollywoodReporter, 6 Mar. 2026
Despite the fact that mental health parity has been paused and Medicaid financing (responsible for more than a quarter of all behavioral health expenditures) is on the ropes, there are some promising recent developments on mental illness and addiction.
—Anand Parekh, STAT, 6 Mar. 2026
When funding is suddenly paused or regulatory environments change, agencies cannot simply wait for clarity.
—Max Crowley, The Conversation, 6 Mar. 2026
Gulf International Services, a conglomerate part-owned by QatarEnergy, has also paused some energy sector activities.
—Dominic Dudley, semafor.com, 5 Mar. 2026
Patrick Sisson, Scientific American, 9 Mar. 2026
Having recently passed previous Heat captain Udonis Haslem for the franchise record for defensive rebounds, Adebayo paused to also take stock of reaching 10,000 points.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 9 Mar. 2026
In February, Canadian and Russian air carriers paused trips to Cuba due to the country’s jet fuel reserves running dry.
—Carlos De Loera, Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2026
This oil is not just paused; it is physically locked away from ever being produced through the wellbore.
—Siddharth Misra, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2026
This includes a live-action take on Tangled, which is back in active development after THR reported last year that the film’s progress had been paused in light of Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot’s live-action Snow White underperforming at the box office.
—Ryan Gajewski, HollywoodReporter, 6 Mar. 2026
Despite the fact that mental health parity has been paused and Medicaid financing (responsible for more than a quarter of all behavioral health expenditures) is on the ropes, there are some promising recent developments on mental illness and addiction.
—Anand Parekh, STAT, 6 Mar. 2026
When funding is suddenly paused or regulatory environments change, agencies cannot simply wait for clarity.
—Max Crowley, The Conversation, 6 Mar. 2026
Gulf International Services, a conglomerate part-owned by QatarEnergy, has also paused some energy sector activities.
—Dominic Dudley, semafor.com, 5 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for paused
hesitated
Verb
-
That's over twice the value of gold from just one year ago, and now investors who once hesitated to buy gold are weighing whether the opportunity has already passed — or whether the metal still has room to run.—
Angelica Leicht,
CBS News,
5 Mar. 2026
-
Then the Canadian hesitated, ever so slightly.—
Louisa Thomas,
New Yorker,
22 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Paused.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/paused. Accessed 12 Mar. 2026.
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