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stall

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A compartment for a single animal in a stable or cattle shed.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

stawl
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈstɔl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. countable

    A compartment for a single animal in a stable or cattle shed.

  2. A stable; a place for cattle.

  3. A compartment in a stable where a single animal is confined and fed

  4. A booth where articles are displayed for sale

  5. A bench or table on which small articles of merchandise are exposed for sale.

  6. countable

    A small open-fronted shop, for example in a market, food court, etc.

verb

  1. To place in an office with the customary formalities; to install.

  2. To forestall; to anticipate.

  3. To keep close; to keep secret.

  4. transitive

    To employ delaying tactics against.

  5. Come to a stop

    “The car stalled in the driveway.”

  6. intransitive

    To come to a standstill.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A compartment for a single animal in a stable or cattle shed.

Used this way, stall is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use stall

  • “The car stalled in the driveway.”verb
  • “The inexperienced driver kept stalling the car.”verb
  • “She doesn't want to write the report, so she is stalling.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

shower stallmarket stallstall speedbox stallstall doorbook stall

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • stallsnounPlural form

    A farm building for housing horses or other livestock.

  • stallingnounInflected form

    A tactic used to mislead or delay.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • stall barnounCompound term

    A gymnastic apparatus used for strengthening exercises.

  • front-stallnounCompound term

    Medieval plate armor to protect a horse's head.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.