{
    "term": "halt",
    "partOfSpeech": "verb",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "verbForms": {
        "presentSimple": {
            "iYouWeThey": "halt",
            "heSheIt": "halts"
        },
        "pastSimple": "halted",
        "pastParticiple": "halted",
        "ingForm": "halting"
    },
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to stop; to make somebody/something stop",
            "sensetop": "halt somebody/something",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "She walked towards him and then halted."
                },
                {
                    "text": "‘Halt!’ the Major ordered *(= used as a command to soldiers)*."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The police were halting traffic on the parade route.",
                    "contextForm": "halt somebody/something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The trial was halted after the first week."
                },
                {
                    "text": "A sudden shout made them halt in their tracks and look around."
                },
                {
                    "text": "All these ideas for expansion were abruptly halted by the outbreak of war."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The strike effectively halted production at the factory."
                },
                {
                    "text": "We are failing to halt the destruction of the rainforest."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She criticized his failure to halt the slide in the government's unpopularity."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adverb": ["virtually", "effectively", "abruptly"],
                "verb + halt": ["attempt to", "try to", "threaten to"],
                "phrases": ["halt in your tracks", "halt something in its tracks"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to suddenly make somebody stop by frightening or surprising them; to suddenly stop because something has frightened or surprised you",
            "labels": "(figurative)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The question stopped Alice in her tracks."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks: what was he doing?"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The disease was stopped in its tracks by immunization programmes."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Feelings"]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/hɔːlt//hɒlt/",
                "audio": "ha/halt/halt__gb_3.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/hɔːlts//hɒlts/",
                "audio": "ha/halt/halts__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈhɔːltɪd//ˈhɒltɪd/",
                "audio": "ha/halt/halted__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈhɔːltɪŋ//ˈhɒltɪŋ/",
                "audio": "ha/halt/halting__gb_3.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/hɔːlt/",
                "audio": "ha/halt/halt__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/hɔːlts/",
                "audio": "ha/halt/halts__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈhɔːltɪd/",
                "audio": "ha/halt/halted__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈhɔːltɪŋ/",
                "audio": "ha/halt/halting__us_2.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late 16th cent.: originally in the phrase make halt, from German haltmachen, from halten ‘to hold’."
}