VocabularyBasePractice words

Meaning & use

stop-go

adjective·AdvancedBritish

Last updated

UK/ˌstɒp ˈɡəʊ/
US/ˌstɑːp ˈɡoʊ/

Meanings

  1. adjectivebefore a noun

    Describing a pattern in which progress or activity repeatedly speeds up and then is halted, especially in economic policy.

    Grammar: Almost always before a noun: stop-go policies, not policies that are stop-go.

    Patterns

    • stop-go policies
    • a stop-go economy

    Stop-go policies made it hard for firms to plan investment.

    The country suffered a stop-go economy for decades.

    Critics blamed the stop-go funding for the half-built hospital.

  2. adjectivebefore a nouninformal

    Describing traffic that keeps moving a little and then halting, as in a heavy jam.

    Grammar: Used before a noun: stop-go traffic.

    Patterns

    • stop-go traffic
    • stop-go driving

    Stop-go traffic made the journey twice as long.

    I hate stop-go driving on the motorway.

    The stop-go queue stretched for miles past the roadworks.

Common combinations

stop-go policies
Stop-go policies upset business owners.
stop-go economy
A stop-go economy discourages long-term investment.
stop-go traffic
There was stop-go traffic all the way to the bridge.
stop-go cycle
The industry is caught in a stop-go cycle of hiring and layoffs.
stop-go funding
Stop-go funding leaves research projects half finished.

Synonyms and how they differ

erratic
Erratic means unpredictable in general, while stop-go describes a specific pattern of halting and restarting.
stop-start
Stop-start is almost the same but is used more for machines, traffic and everyday activity than for economic policy.
intermittent
Intermittent means happening at irregular intervals, with no suggestion that a policy or flow is being switched on and off.
inconsistent
Inconsistent describes things that do not match, whereas stop-go describes alternating acceleration and braking.

Opposites

steadyconsistent

Word family

stop verb
to cease moving or acting
go verb
to move or proceed
stop-start adjective
repeatedly stopping and starting

Commonly confused: stop-go or stop-start?

stop-go vs stop-start

Stop-start is a close cousin that fits traffic and machines, while stop-go is the usual choice for economic policy.

Practice

Business leaders complained that the government's ___ policies made long-term planning impossible.

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “stop-go”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Your sentence stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.

Explore more words