come to a stop

verb

To stop moving or being active; to stop.

“The TV broadcast suddenly came to a dead stop.”

Meanings

verbcome to a stop (third-person singular simple present comes to a stop, present participle coming to a stop, simple past came to a stop, past participle come to a stop)

present singular third person comes to a stop · participle present coming to a stop · past came to a stop

  1. To stop moving or being active; to stop.

    The TV broadcast suddenly came to a dead stop.

    1 more example

    The car came to a stop in front of the house, and the front door opened, and a little girl—My sister, I thought, as if such a thing were as rare as a white elephant—came bounding out, the dark ringlets of her hair bouncing as she descended the porch steps and stopped to stare at me.

    2021, Ed Tarkington, The Fortunate Ones, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, page 129
  2. To reach a point where little progress is being made; to come to an impasse; to stop.

    The renovation effort came to a juddering stop due to a lack of funding.

    Synonyms: come to a stand

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo reach a point where little progress is being made; to come to an impasse; to stop.

Translations

Italian incagliarsi
  • incagliarsireach a point of little progress
Cite this entry
APA

come to a stop. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20to%20a%20stop

MLA

“come to a stop.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20to%20a%20stop. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “come to a stop,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20to%20a%20stop.

Source: come to a stop on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.