stop someone in their tracks

verb

To prevent someone from continuing along a path or way, literal or figurative, he has begun going along.

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Meanings

verbstop someone in their tracks (third-person singular simple present stops someone in their tracks, present participle stopping someone in their tracks, simple past and past participle stopped someone in their tracks)

present singular third person stops someone in their tracks · participle present stopping someone in their tracks · participle past stopped someone in their tracks · past stopped someone in their tracks

  1. idiomaticTo prevent someone from continuing along a path or way, literal or figurative, he has begun going along.

    This magnificent picture really stopped me in my tracks when I stumbled across it. I was drawn inexorably and immediately into the compelling detail discernible on this top-quality image.

    2021 December 1, Nigel Harris, “St Pancras and King's Cross: 1947”, in RAIL, number 945, page 36

Translations

Finnish pysäyttää niille sijoilleen
  • pysäyttää niille sijoilleenTranslations
French couper dans son élan, interrompre
  • couper dans son élanTranslations
  • interrompreTranslations
Polish but see zatrzymywać, zatrzymać
  • but see zatrzymywaćTranslations
  • zatrzymaćTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

stop someone in their tracks. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stop%20someone%20in%20their%20tracks

MLA

“stop someone in their tracks.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stop%20someone%20in%20their%20tracks. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stop someone in their tracks,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stop%20someone%20in%20their%20tracks.

Source: stop someone in their tracks on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.