1. Home
2. Idioms
3. stop short of

stop short of

---

---

stop short of doing something

1. to decide not to do something I stopped short of telling him what I really felt about him.

2. to almost do something, or partly do something without completing it The punishments are quite severe but they stop short of losing your job.

Usage notes: sometimes used in the forms stop well short of or stop just short of: The government is stopping just short of threatening to go to war.

See also: of, short, stop

stop short of something/doing something

to decide not to do something I stopped short of telling him what I really felt about him.

See also: of, short, stop