as in winter
a period of often involuntary inactivity or idleness
we need to take a time-out from our relationship to think things over
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of time-out
Here, cops can decompress after a stressful event or take a brief time-out during a draining shift.
—
Katja Ridderbusch, NPR, 26 May 2025
The child who broke the toy would likely be yelled at and sent to time-out by the authoritarian parent without much conversation beyond that.
—Madeline Holcombe, CNN Money, 22 May 2025
Spock advised parents against scolding children, threatening them, punishing them, giving them time-outs, or shooting them cross looks.
—Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 5 May 2025
In any other circumstance, I would have been flustered, embarrassed, and ready to drag her out of there and straight into a time-out.
—Staff Author, Parents, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for time-out
Katja Ridderbusch, NPR, 26 May 2025
The child who broke the toy would likely be yelled at and sent to time-out by the authoritarian parent without much conversation beyond that.
—Madeline Holcombe, CNN Money, 22 May 2025
Spock advised parents against scolding children, threatening them, punishing them, giving them time-outs, or shooting them cross looks.
—Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 5 May 2025
In any other circumstance, I would have been flustered, embarrassed, and ready to drag her out of there and straight into a time-out.
—Staff Author, Parents, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for time-out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for time-out
Noun
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Bellinger, who was acquired from the Chicago Cubs for Cody Poteet last winter, has been one of general manager Brian Cashman’s best acquisitions.—
Chris Kirschner,
New York Times,
24 Sep. 2025
-
Hardy cyclamen is a perennial, which blooms in late summer to autumn with the leaves remaining evergreen throughout the winter.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
24 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Their words will have bolstered his belief, giving him the confidence to show for and collect the ball again in the defensive third just after the break, using a combination of touches and pauses to evade Brentford pressure before making a more assured sideways pass this time.—
Anantaajith Raghuraman,
New York Times,
22 Sep. 2025
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Through his break from WWE, he's continued with ESPN's College GameDay and The Pat McAfee Show, which has featured interviews with various WWE stars.—
Matthew Couden,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Activate your default mode network through strategic downtime, leverage neuroplasticity with daily visualization, and escape the stress-success paradox by choosing flow over force.—
Jodie Cook,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
-
These incremental improvements, conducted during the downtime in between various data-taking runs, have enabled LIGO to increase its haul of merging black holes from that first event, seen in 2015, to hundreds of events as of 2025.—
Ethan Siegel,
Big Think,
17 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Forecasters say the lull in storm activity was caused by wind shear as well as dry and dusty air.—
Christopher Cann,
USA Today,
22 Sep. 2025
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Some schools might fall into a lull after such a moment.—
Brendan Connelly,
Boston Herald,
20 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Their words will have bolstered his belief, giving him the confidence to show for and collect the ball again in the defensive third just after the break, using a combination of touches and pauses to evade Brentford pressure before making a more assured sideways pass this time.—
Anantaajith Raghuraman,
New York Times,
22 Sep. 2025
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The chair also called for a pause on minimum wage hikes, noting that garments remain a labor-intensive sector employing 600,000 to 800,000 workers.—
Glenn Taylor,
Sourcing Journal,
22 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Initially diagnosed with a bone bruise after a round of MRI, CT and x-rays, Smith tried returning after a five-day layoff.—
Jon Paul Hoornstra,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 Sep. 2025
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When layoffs and dividend cuts followed, Intel chose not to pivot but to lobby Washington—fighting efforts to restrict China investments, and, as Politico exposed, leveraging Treasury connections at the highest levels.—
Andrew King,
Fortune,
20 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Time-out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/time-out. Accessed 25 Sep. 2025.
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