FULL STOP definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary (2025)

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full stop full stop in British English full stop in American English full stop in American English Examples of 'full stop' in a sentence

COBUILD frequency band

full stop

British

Word forms: plural full stops

countable noun B1

A full stop is the punctuation mark . which you use at the end of a sentence when it is not a question or exclamation.

[British]

The students were shown text exchanges with and without full stops.

regional note: in AM, use period

English Easy Learning GrammarWhen do you use a full stop ( . ) in English?Full stops are used:
to mark the end of a sentence
Let’s have some lunch.
I have to catch a bus in ten minutes.
to mark the end of a sentence fragment
Are ...Read more

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full stop in British English

or full point

noun

the punctuation mark (.) used at the end of a sentence that is not a question or exclamation, after abbreviations, etc

Also called (esp US and Canadian): period

COBUILD frequency band

full stop in American English

a period (punctuation mark)

COBUILD frequency band

full stop in American English

noun

period (sense 10), period (sense 11)

Word origin

[1590–1600]

Examples of 'full stop' in a sentence

full stop

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We do hope that this issue will finally get to a full stop.

The Guardian (2018)

We do not have enough junior doctors full stop.

The Guardian (2017)

He nearly comes to a full stop as he struggles to land a triple.

The Guardian (2018)

What happened to the full stop?

The Guardian (2018)

So it would be basically be a full stop to my career.

The Guardian (2017)

The absence of a full stop at the end of the first verse carries that dying over two verses to the end.

Times, Sunday Times (2012)

By 1981 the cycle of growth had come to a full stop.

Grenville, J. A. S. The Collins History of the World in the 20th Century (1994)

Because they've come to a full stop.

Times, Sunday Times (2010)

The illness has forced you to come to a full stop, and fighting what is happening is the worst thing you can do.

MacIntyre, Anne M. E. Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome - How To Live With It (1989)

These silky treats - truly the colour of the season - are the full stop at the end of summer.

Times, Sunday Times (2010)