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Glite Dictionary
to give someone pause

to give someone pause

22 6.4
To make someone stop and think carefully before deciding
  • idiom
translation icon : dar que pensar
  • The unexpected news about the project gave me pause to reflect on our next steps.
  • give great pause

Examples

  • Kyle's confident, and the prospect of this really happening gives Danny pause.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Father... in the days since I received your letter... I have come to see certain truths that now give me pause.

    BloodRayne (2005)

  • Oh, what you say does give me pause.

    Love & Friendship (2016)

  • And that would give a normal person pause.

    The Ice Harvest (2005)

  • I read this also right before the election, and it gave me pause as well.

    Blog text (6)

  • But there was something about him that gave me pause.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • So, what was it about that scenario that gave you pause?

    Roman Holiday (1953)

  • All of these failings should give parents pause, but should not send them back to "focus on the family."

    Academic text (2002)

  • I have to confess that this was the comment that gave me the most pause.

    Blog text (6)

  • There was a hard, elemental quality about him that would give any intelligent woman pause.

    Fiction book (1995)

Synonyms

to give pause
vsto give someone pause
1 5.8

To make someone hesitate before acting

causes hesitation while explicitly referring to a particular person

Antonyms

to encourage
∞ 2.3

Give someone support and confidence so they try or keep doing something

to urge
591 3.2

To strongly encourage someone to do something

How Hesitant

to give someone pause
22 6.4
to plant a seed of doubt
  • Informal
1 5.9

Surface Forms

give someone pause infinitive
gave someone pause past
given someone pause past participle
giving someone pause present participle
gives someone pause third person singular

Morphology

give + someone + pause

The meaning 'to make someone stop and think' is directly derivable from the constituents: 'give' as 'cause/produce', 'someone' as the experiencer, and 'pause' as a brief interruption, forming a simple causative pattern 'cause someone to pause'. This is a compositional, cross-linguistically common construction and a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should be able to infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Give someone pause comes from the simple image of a short stop: to pause is to stop briefly when you speak or act. So if something gives you pause, it makes you stop and think carefully before you continue, which is why it means 'to make someone stop and think'.