as in ends
to stop the progress or spread of (something)
efforts to stem the dramatic decline of an endangered species
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Recent Examples of stems
Splatter paints, stems for flowers, spitball fights!
—
Lauren Silbert, PEOPLE, 8 Oct. 2025
Clip stems at different heights to show off each flower’s form, and fill in with foliage.
—Miranda Crowell, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Oct. 2025
Clematis climbs by wrapping its short leaf stems around support structures and may initially require a string or wire to climb.
—Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 22 Sep. 2025
Elliott’s relationship with Eschenbach stems back over a decade to his prior role as president and COO of VMware, where Elliott was a very active shareholder.
—Kenneth Squire, CNBC, 20 Sep. 2025
Many experiments use hydroponic setups where seedlings are dunked into water with plastic particles, letting leaves and stems touch the mix directly.
—Pranjal Malewar, New Atlas, 19 Sep. 2025
Barcelona’s municipal government, which has been contending with a housing crisis that stems, in part, from the conversion of many apartments into Airbnbs, has yet to decide whether to allow the demolition, but Sagrada Família officials are resolute.
—D. T. Max, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2025
The current round of liberal hand-wringing about how conservatives have become far better at driving the political conversation stems in large part from Kirk.
—David Weigel, semafor.com, 10 Sep. 2025
The fastball is at the bottom of the zone, and that’s kind of where everything stems for me.
—Jeff Fletcher, Oc Register, 10 Sep. 2025
Lauren Silbert, PEOPLE, 8 Oct. 2025
Clip stems at different heights to show off each flower’s form, and fill in with foliage.
—Miranda Crowell, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Oct. 2025
Clematis climbs by wrapping its short leaf stems around support structures and may initially require a string or wire to climb.
—Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 22 Sep. 2025
Elliott’s relationship with Eschenbach stems back over a decade to his prior role as president and COO of VMware, where Elliott was a very active shareholder.
—Kenneth Squire, CNBC, 20 Sep. 2025
Many experiments use hydroponic setups where seedlings are dunked into water with plastic particles, letting leaves and stems touch the mix directly.
—Pranjal Malewar, New Atlas, 19 Sep. 2025
Barcelona’s municipal government, which has been contending with a housing crisis that stems, in part, from the conversion of many apartments into Airbnbs, has yet to decide whether to allow the demolition, but Sagrada Família officials are resolute.
—D. T. Max, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2025
The current round of liberal hand-wringing about how conservatives have become far better at driving the political conversation stems in large part from Kirk.
—David Weigel, semafor.com, 10 Sep. 2025
The fastball is at the bottom of the zone, and that’s kind of where everything stems for me.
—Jeff Fletcher, Oc Register, 10 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stems
Verb
-
Chernow’s Hamilton ends there; widowed Eliza gets a scant nine pages.—
Jane Kamensky,
The Atlantic,
10 Oct. 2025
-
The fight for justice never ends as Benson and her squad provide a tireless voice for the voiceless.—
Denise Petski,
Deadline,
10 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
These early shifts—less COVID vaccination; fewer options for flu, MMR, and chickenpox vaccines; and, perhaps soon, delays to the hepatitis-B schedule—may seem benign enough.—
Katherine J. Wu,
The Atlantic,
18 Sep. 2025
-
Too much light in the evening — that extra hour from daylight saving time — delays that surge and the cycle gets out of sync.—
Jeremy Tanner,
The Hill,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
So grab a plate, settle in, and let these films take you back to the yard—where the music never stops, the bonds run deep, and every Homecoming feels like family coming home again.—
Okla Jones,
Essence,
16 Oct. 2025
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More than 750,000 federal workers have been furloughed, which stops them from reporting to work.—
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy,
USA Today,
16 Oct. 2025
Verb
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For one day only, vehicle traffic halts on the 3,031-foot-long bridge and pedestrians stream across.—
Taryn Shorr-Mckee,
Travel + Leisure,
7 Oct. 2025
-
The best-cooling cases often reach that mark by spinning up their fans to annoyingly noisy levels, but the MasterFrame 600 halts that trend by having the third-quietest (or fourth-noisiest) sound pressure level of our test lot.—
Thomas Soderstrom,
PC Magazine,
4 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Treatment requires intravenous administration of ethanol or fomepizole, a specific antidote that blocks methanol’s toxic conversion.—
Alessandra Freitas,
CNN Money,
12 Oct. 2025
-
The deals include truly innovative items, such as the Waoaw Blackout Sleep Mask, which blocks out 100 percent of light, and the Allclair Nausea Relief Inhaler, which offers a new solution to motion sickness.—
Genevieve Cepeda,
Travel + Leisure,
8 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
The star will have been on the road for more than a year by the time the trek concludes in December with three shows in Mexico City.—
Hannah Dailey,
Billboard,
13 Oct. 2025
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Major league free agents aren't eligible to sign with new teams until five days after the World Series concludes.—
Jackson Roberts,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Stems.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stems. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025.
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