Stopgap

Quick meaning: Stopgap is a noun meaning Something spoken to fill up an uncomfortable pause in speech; a filled pause or filler.

Meaning

Something spoken to fill up an uncomfortable pause in speech; a filled pause or filler.

More Meanings

1. Short-term; temporary.
2. Filling a gap or pause.
3. (transitive) To stop up or fill (a physical gap or hole, or a hiatus).
4. (intransitive) To use something as a short-term fix or temporary measure until a better alternative can be obtained.
5. A short-term fix or temporary measure used until something better can be obtained; that which serves as an expedient in an emergency; a band-aid solution.
6. (rare) That which stops up or fills a gap or hole.

Example Sentences

They put a stopgap solution in place, but need something more permanent.

The small company used their old product with a few kludged enhancements as a stopgap until they could develop a new product.

It is often argued that the HST saved BR's InterCity market. It was only ever intended as a stopgap, but it proved to be a winner.

[A] bit of ink and paper which has long been an innocent wrapping or stop-gap may at last be laid open under the one pair of eyes which have knowledge enough to turn it into the opening of a catastrophe.

Word Forms

• stopgaps
• stop-gap
• stopgapping
• stopgapped

Synonyms for stopgap

Depending on context, synonyms include interim, fillgap, band-aid, bandaid, bodge, cludge.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include makeshift, interim, temporary, short-term, alternative, patch.

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