pause
pause (pôz) verb, intransitive
paused, pausing, pauses
1. To cease or suspend an action temporarily.
2. To linger; tarry: paused for a while under the huge oak tree.
3. To hesitate: He paused before replying.
noun
1. A temporary cessation.
2. A delay or suspended reaction, as from uncertainty; a hesitation: After a pause the audience broke into cheers.
3. A break, stop, or rest, often for a calculated purpose or effect: After a dramatic pause, the lawyer finished her summation.
4. a. Music. A sign indicating that a note or rest is to be held. b. A break or rest in a line of poetry; a caesura.
5. Reason for hesitation: The immensity of the task gives one pause.
[From Middle English, pause, from Old French, from Latin pausa, from Greek pausis, from pauein, to stop.]
Synonyms: pause, intermission, recess, respite, suspension. The central meaning shared by these nouns is "a temporary stop, as in activity": a short pause in the conversation; a concert with the usual 15-minute intermission; the legislature's summer recess; toiling without respite; a suspension of work.