time stands still

phrase

Used to emphasize a moment in time that is either catastrophic or even enjoyable in which one's sense of time is frozen or suspended.

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Meanings

phrase
  1. Used to emphasize a moment in time that is either catastrophic or even enjoyable in which one's sense of time is frozen or suspended.

    Each long moment seems a day, time stands still, when she's away.

    1741, Mr. Theobald (Lewis), The Happy Captive, An English Opera
    3 more examples

    Life without love is load; and time stands still; what we refuse to him, to Death we give, And then, then only, when we love, we live.

    1735, William Congreve, Plays ... In two volumes, page 39

    When one event is continuous, time stands still; for we form no idea of time by the presence or continuance of a single event but we do so by the change of other events at the time.

    1828, Abner Kneeland (contributor), The Olive Branch and Christian Inquirer

    In a good wild high-mountain storm, it would be a majestic ride through heaven and hell, a time-stands-still trip in a region of pure awe and undiluted fear.

    2004, Phil Condon, Montana Surround: Land, Water, Nature, and Place, Big Earth Publishing, →ISBN, page 52
  2. Used to state that something, especially a place, has an archaic, anachronistic or historic feeling.

    Time stands still in this quiet little spot, with its quaint old-fashioned decor, swathes of lace and brown table linen.

    2011 July 8, Time Out Guides Ltd, Time Out Barcelona 14th edition, Random House, →ISBN
    5 more examples

    […] unconsciously and innocently succumb to the timeless paganism of a country where time stands still and the ancient ways of humanity know nothing about stock markets and finance capitalism.

    1957, The Peabody Reflector

    Travel by luxurious jet to a town where time stands still and the houses are festooned with bright streamers for the ancient Summer Star festival. Stay in a 17th-century ryokan (inn) and enjoy ham and eggs for breakfast.

    1972, The New Yorker

    If your visit to the time-stands-still village of Metsovo - high in the snowy mountains a couple of hours' drive due west of Kalambaka - is at Easter, you're in for a succession of special treats[…]

    1984, Travel Holiday

    Every year since this bicentennial event, the batteaux have raced from Lynchburg to Richmond, easily slipping from one century back into another for a few glorious days when time stands still.

    2004, Clifton W. Potter, Dorothy Bundy Turner Potter, Lynchburg: A City Set on Seven Hills, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 148

    Inside the smallest and plainest of the trio, a time-stands-still kind of sight awaits—different-sized gaskets hang from hooks on the wall, waiting patiently for more than half a century to be placed on machinery long gone.

    2016, Richard Panchyk, Hidden History of Long Island, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 30
Cite this entry
APA

time stands still. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/time%20stands%20still

MLA

“time stands still.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/time%20stands%20still. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “time stands still,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/time%20stands%20still.

Source: time stands still on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.