grind to a halt

Idioms

Also, come to a grinding halt. Gradually come to a standstill or end. For example, Once the funding stopped, the refurbishing project ground to a halt, or She's come to a grinding halt with that book she's writing. This expression alludes to a clogged engine that gradually stops or a ship that runs aground.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Production across the economy is grinding to a halt.

From Salon

Researchers at the University of Southampton have found new evidence that Earth's climate did not completely grind to a halt during its most extreme ice age, a time often called Snowball Earth.

From Science Daily

Blacking out the internet completely was "very concerning, because it is very extreme", Cesarano said, pointing out that a country's entire economy basically grinds to a halt when the internet shuts down.

From Barron's

But the companies still have to make money, Windsor said, or else “the whole proposition will grind to a halt while the market figures out the economic way forward.”

From MarketWatch

The car grinds to a halt just inches away from the child.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023