PAUSING Synonyms: 24 Similar and Opposite Words

pausing

verb

present participle of pause

as in hesitating

to come to a temporary halt in one's activity he paused for a moment to regain his composure

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of pausing She’s casually seated on a couch, soft-spoken, and sometimes pausing to search for the right words in English. — Rebecca Ford, Vanity Fair, 5 Sep. 2026 The Pentagon is pausing guidelines for a controversial policy that has required testosterone testing for service members aged 30 and older, Reuters reports. — Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 4 Sep. 2026 Customers research, evaluate, and decide across an expanding set of touchpoints, often looping backward or pausing before moving forward. — Harvard Business Review, 4 Sep. 2026 Closing this gap should not mean slowing or pausing every use case. — Rajjie Sarmey, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2026 Beijing — Already harrowing rescue efforts along the China-Nepal border are being complicated by the risk of new flooding or landslides, with authorities in China and Nepal pausing rescue efforts Friday due to those fears. — Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2026 Some couples and families even choose a code word that means the conversation is pausing, Wilson says—not that the relationship is disappearing. — Angela Haupt, Time, 26 Aug. 2026 The federal government responded to the audit's preliminary findings by abruptly pausing in December the millions of dollars in MEP funding Ohio receives. — CBS News, 25 Aug. 2026 Although the Colorado ruling stated players would not be allowed to enter the transfer portal, a federal appeal court granted the NCAA a temporary stay on the Colorado court order Friday, pausing the nationwide injunction. — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for pausing

hesitating

Verb

Fertilizer is often bought months ahead of planting, so hesitating in the fall can mean less goes on the ground in the spring.

— Jayash Paudel, The Conversation, 27 Aug. 2026
Cueto was known for hesitating while in his pitching motion, or wiggling on the mound.

— Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 12 Aug. 2026