grind to a halt

verb

To come to a standstill, or cease to be productive or make progress, due to an obstacle.

“After the visionary's death, work on his ideas ground to a halt.”

Similar
get stuckbog downmire
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Meanings

verbgrind to a halt (third-person singular simple present grinds to a halt, present participle grinding to a halt, simple past and past participle ground to a halt)

present singular third person grinds to a halt · participle present grinding to a halt · participle past ground to a halt · past ground to a halt

  1. intransitiveTo come to a standstill, or cease to be productive or make progress, due to an obstacle.

    After the visionary's death, work on his ideas ground to a halt.

    2 more examples

    Work on the new high-rise ground to a halt as contractors tried to deal with all the red tape.

    But to no avail - the suburban (Sunday) service ground to a halt, with only 20 of the 268 motormen turning up for work on Boxing Day [1949]. Kempton Park races lost 10,000 visitors, with the cancellation of 12 extra race day trains.

    2023 December 27, David Turner, “Silent lines...”, in RAIL, number 999, page 29

Synonyms & antonyms

verbbe unable to move further

Similar
get stuckbog downmire
Broader
stand still
Also see
bog downfreezeholdmireseize upstickstintstopswike

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

From windmills. To stop a windmill from turning too quickly, such as during a strong gust of wind, excess corn would be poured between the grinding stone (top stone) and the nether stone (bottom stone). The extra pressure would cause the stones to slow down or literally "grind to a halt", and thereby stop the windmill from turning.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish pysähtyä
  • pysähtyäto bring to a stop or halt
French se gripper, se bloquer
  • se gripperto bring to a stop or halt
  • se bloquerto bring to a stop or halt
  • se paralyserto bring to a stop or halt
  • s'immobiliserto bring to a stop or halt
  • s'arrêter netto bring to a stop or halt
German ins Stocken geraten
  • ins Stocken geratento bring to a stop or halt
Māori urutū
  • urutūto bring to a stop or halt
Russian остановиться
  • остановиться (ostanovitʹsja)to bring to a stop or halt
Spanish estancarse
  • estancarseto bring to a stop or halt
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: grind to a halt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.