as in hesitating
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 pausing
Wilson has pledged to a customary standstill, pausing public criticism of the company until 30 days before the nomination deadline for the 2028 annual meeting.
—
Pamela N. Danziger, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
That philosophy shaped our decisions, ranging from pausing new business in some areas, reducing exposure in concentrated catastrophe-prone regions, and resisting pressure to chase growth, to selling our homebuilder distribution network in 2025.
—Richard McCathron, Fortune, 25 May 2026
Washington — New technology allowing audio of plane crashes to be extracted from still images has prompted the National Transportation Safety Board to take a rare step of pausing the public release of nearly all information related to its investigations.
—Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 22 May 2026
After being hooded and pausing for photos, Salamah dropped to one knee and asked Alshabrawy to marry him.
—Cecilio Padilla, CBS News, 20 May 2026
And Charlotte City Council is on the brink of pausing accepting or approving data center projects to provide time for impact studies and possibly regulations.
—Charlotte Observer, 13 May 2026
Republicans are exploring pausing the federal gas tax in an effort to provide voters relief as prices at the pump soar due to the war in Iran.
—Hailey Bullis, The Washington Examiner, 11 May 2026
Experts also recommend pausing to check the video’s sources.
—ABC News, 9 May 2026
The concept of everyone coming together for one evening — and pausing their competition for the good of the overall TV business — had some legs.
—Michael Schneider, Variety, 7 May 2026
Pamela N. Danziger, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
That philosophy shaped our decisions, ranging from pausing new business in some areas, reducing exposure in concentrated catastrophe-prone regions, and resisting pressure to chase growth, to selling our homebuilder distribution network in 2025.
—Richard McCathron, Fortune, 25 May 2026
Washington — New technology allowing audio of plane crashes to be extracted from still images has prompted the National Transportation Safety Board to take a rare step of pausing the public release of nearly all information related to its investigations.
—Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 22 May 2026
After being hooded and pausing for photos, Salamah dropped to one knee and asked Alshabrawy to marry him.
—Cecilio Padilla, CBS News, 20 May 2026
And Charlotte City Council is on the brink of pausing accepting or approving data center projects to provide time for impact studies and possibly regulations.
—Charlotte Observer, 13 May 2026
Republicans are exploring pausing the federal gas tax in an effort to provide voters relief as prices at the pump soar due to the war in Iran.
—Hailey Bullis, The Washington Examiner, 11 May 2026
Experts also recommend pausing to check the video’s sources.
—ABC News, 9 May 2026
The concept of everyone coming together for one evening — and pausing their competition for the good of the overall TV business — had some legs.
—Michael Schneider, Variety, 7 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pausing
hesitating
Verb
-
Right now, Taylor said, both sides are hesitating.—
Rachel Barber,
USA Today,
8 May 2026
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Walgreens isn’t hesitating to close stores in parts of Chicago where theft is frequent and there are legitimate concerns about the safety of employees and customers.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
6 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pausing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pausing. Accessed 2 Jun. 2026.
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