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give pause
Idioms and Phrases
Cause one to hesitate, as in The high monthly installment payments gave me pause , or, as Shakespeare put it in Hamlet (3:1): “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come ... Must give us pause.” [c. 1600]Example Sentences
Whatever the case, the government’s failure to provide Khalil, Ozturk, and other green card or student visa holders with the basic procedural safeguards of our legal system and the Trump administration’s disregard for free speech should give pause to every American who cherishes freedom and democracy.
That will give pause to any state executives before they accede to democracy-defying pressure from the former president.
This is crucial to give pause not only to Moscow, but also to Beijing, Tehran and Pyongyang.
They “give pause and invite reflection … very much like catching someone else, someone you care for, gazing into the mirror.”
And though being found in criminal contempt of court may not make any difference to his base, it should give pause to anyone on the fence about voting for him this fall.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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