standoffs

plural of standoff
1
as in ties
a situation in which neither participant in a contest, competition, or struggle comes out ahead of the other after two hours they had played to a 5-5 standoff

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2
as in halts
a point in a struggle where neither side is capable of winning or willing to give in the standoff continued for three days before the fugitive gave himself up to the authorities

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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 standoffs The dishwasher standoffs, the credit card statements, the in-laws showing up unannounced. Ashley Lynch, Sacbee.com, 30 July 2026 As fans of the series know well by now, every episode of Outer Banks is packed to the gills with twists, turns, motorcycle chases, police standoffs, knife fights, high-stakes heists, and more. Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 29 July 2026 Over the years, the gathering has featured contract standoffs, shots directed at the league, countless years of support for coaches and coordinators, stadium posturing and always a heavy dose of optimism before a serving of orange sherbet. Paul Dehner Jr, New York Times, 27 July 2026 Additional confrontations and standoffs also occurred in Sikkim. Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 July 2026 Introduced as part of a collaboration with the University of North Carolina’s School of the Arts and Center for Design Innovation, the robo-deputy is meant to stand-in for human cops during intense standoffs. Joe Wilkins, Futurism, 8 July 2026 But in a world increasingly defined by diplomatic standoffs, territorial wars and trade disputes, the dollar has become a geopolitical tool. Andreas Panosyan, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026 For now, a bipartisan housing bill and the renewal of a key spy program have become casualties of those standoffs, and their fate was in limbo as Senate Republicans left for the July 4 recess. David Sivak, The Washington Examiner, 25 June 2026 The tangled search included multiple standoffs, a house set ablaze and an apparent communication disconnect between local police and the nation’s top law enforcement official. Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 24 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for standoffs
Noun
  • The State Ethics Commission on Monday overruled an administrative law judge who found that two Republican groups with ties to the defunct First Liberty Building & Loan did not violate campaign finance laws.
    David Wickert, AJC.com, 4 Aug. 2026
  • The statues of Polyphemus, Scylla and Charybdis, and other figures from The Odyssey discovered in Tiberius’s villa attest to the area’s millennia-long ties to myths and legends.
    Laura Itzkowitz, Condé Nast Traveler, 3 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • The automatic stay halts proceedings but doesn't compel creditors to undo pre-petition filings without operative effect.
    Jay Adkisson, Forbes.com, 27 June 2026
  • Since prolonged production halts can cause permanent damage to oil wells, shutting them down is typically a last resort.
    Jason Ma, Fortune, 15 June 2026
Noun
  • Across 10 trials, the system achieved a 90 percent autonomous success rate with four robots and 70 percent with eight, while recovering from navigation errors and formation deadlocks without human assistance.
    Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 10 July 2026
  • Having killed Downey, Amos cuts one of his deadlocks and puts it in Axel’s little red book.
    Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 3 Dec. 2025
Noun
  • The second chapter intertwines misfortune and impasses.
    Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 10 June 2026
  • The Senate unanimously approved a resolution to withhold lawmakers’ pay during government shutdowns, aiming to encourage faster resolution of federal budget impasses after record-breaking closures.
    Joey Cappelletti, Los Angeles Times, 14 May 2026
Noun
  • The legislation's passage represented a rare moment of bipartisan achievement in a Congress that has been marked by obstruction and a series of stalemates.
    Kathryn Watson, CBS News, 24 June 2026
  • Another reason is that the federal government is now viewed by many as so routinely dysfunctional that budget stalemates are seen as just one more example of a broader breakdown.
    Susan Page, USA Today, 1 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • Tracy said those will be issues the Red Sox will have to sort out, but noted that these sorts of logjams often have a way of working themselves out.
    Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 28 June 2026
  • After clearing logjams in the White House and House of Representatives, the legislation drew broad support in an election year where both parties are increasingly aware that voters have said they're fed up with the high cost of living.
    Andrea Riquier, USA Today, 24 June 2026
Noun
  • The workshops include all ingredients and participants learn skills such as cutting and folding meats, placement and spacing for jams and honeys.
    Janice Phelan, Kansas City Star, 31 July 2026
  • Lopez and multiple bullpen arms got out of tough jams to limit the Red Sox 16 baserunners across the first nine innings to just two runs, only one earned.
    Sean Campbell, Sacbee.com, 30 July 2026

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“Standoffs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/standoffs. Accessed 6 Aug. 2026.

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