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⏳ To delay 🐄 Animal compartment 🛒 A small booth 🚗 To stop running ✈️ To lose lift ⏳ A delay tactic 🎭 Front seats ✈️ Loss of lift 🐄 To house animal
to stall

to stall

36 3.9
To stop running suddenly, often because of a fault
  • verb
  • /stɔl/
translation icon : calarse
  • If you drive too slowly up the hill, the engine may stall unexpectedly.

But the Jeep, when I when the Jeep stalls, it's like I thought we're broke in it.

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Examples

  • If the car stalls we use these to restart the car and send him on his way.

    Yellow Yellow Yellow: The Indycar Safety Team (2017)

  • What's up? - Oh, my engine stalled out.

    Strange World (2022)

  • I think she did something to stall the car too.

    Camp Blood 8: Revelations (2020)

  • Every time I turn it over it just stalls.

    Cost of Living (1997)

  • My car is stalled down at the garage.

    We're No Angels (1989)

  • The command jeep had stalled and had been left behind by the rest of the company.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Whenever the car has stalled in the past, Alice has looked quite put out.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Oh, well, the car stalled as soon as I got it into town, that's all.

    The Hand (1981)

  • The car's engine spluttered and stalled, and for the first time, she heard the moan of the wind.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Batman emerges into the midst of the crowd, weaving in and out among the stalled vehicles.

    Fiction book (1992)

Synonyms

to fail
vsto stall
370 2.2

Stop working properly, as a machine or part

is the specific type of engine or vehicle stop caused by a fault
to cut out
vsto stall
45 4.1

To stop working suddenly

refers to a vehicle or engine stopping because of a fault
to come to a halt
vsto stall
  • Informal
13 3.4

Stop moving or working completely

happens unintentionally because of a mechanical fault
to conk
vsto stall
  • Informal
3 7.9

To stop working suddenly, like an engine or machine

is the neutral term used in technical or formal contexts

Antonyms

to start
∞ 1.0

To begin an action, event or process

to run
∞ 2.2

To make a machine or device work

Phrasal Verbs

to stall for time
  • Informal
6 4.8

To delay doing something to get more time

Compounds

shower stall
  • US
4 2.1

A small enclosed space in a bathroom with a shower for washing

choir stall
1 8.5

A carved wooden seat in a church where priests or singers sit during services

coffee stall
  • Indian
1.7

A small movable stand that sells hot coffee and simple food on streets, often at night

front-stall
  • Archaic
9.9

A metal plate that protects a horse's head in battle

stall bar
  • Specialized
8.2

A frame of horizontal bars fixed to a wall for exercise

starting stall
  • Specialized
5.8

A gate at the starting line that holds each horse or racer before a race starts

How Reliable

to run
∞ 2.2
to sputter
15 4.6
to stall
36 3.9
to die
498 4.6

Surface Forms

stall infinitive
stalled past
stalled past participle
stalling present participle
stalls third person singular

Etymology

The word stall for a car or engine stopping comes from the old English root steall meaning 'place' or 'stand', so when an engine 'stalls' it suddenly 'stands still' and stops running.