Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An improvised substitute for something lacking; a temporary expedient. See Synonyms at makeshift.
- adj. Serving as a stopgap: a stopgap budget bill to keep the government running.
Wiktionary
- adj. Temporary; short-term.
- n. A temporary measure or short-term fix used until something better can be obtained.
Examples
“In the meantime, it was asking publishers to cover more of the costs through a 7-cent surcharge in what it characterized as a stopgap measure.”
The Wall Street Journal: Magazine Wholesaler Case Heads to Court
“Even as a short-term stopgap measure in high-needs areas, I think it's doing more harm to teaching than good.”
The Huffington Post: Shaun Johnson: Let Me Tell You About Teach for America
“The Senate approved $219 billion in stopgap spending bill (HR 3081, above) for fiscal 2011, which will fund government operations until Dec. 3, at which time the post-election Congress will take up regular appropriations for the new budget year.”
“The nine bills would provide the funding and broadly divvy it up for the rest of fiscal year 2012, after Congress earlier passed a series of short-term stopgap measures.”
The Wall Street Journal: Lawmakers Reach Deal on Appropriations Bills
“Too often elections are a short-term stopgap for long-term problems.”
“MARY SCHIAVO, AVIATION SAFETY EXPERT: Unfortunately that is a very short-term stopgap measure.”
“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid comments on the Congress budget battle and says the House short-term stopgap plan is "a sure way to close the government.”
“And Reid said Republicans were stalling and procrastinating by proposing another short-term stopgap to fund the government.”
“Republicans in the House of Representatives want to increase it in two stages, the first a short-term stopgap that would last through early next year.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘stopgap’.
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Go over
mollify, obstinate, obviate, occlude, onerous, obscure, paragon, pedantic, perfunctory, placate, placid, prodigal and 364 more...
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Amalgamations
Words that have been smashed together.
keystone, touchstone, footprint, thunderhead, seesaw, textbook, leftovers, watchword, afterbirth, fieldwork, outcast, statesman and 148 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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ulyssean
... as in "by James Joyce"
stately, plump, aloft, gurgling, untonsured, chrysostomos, jowl, parapet, jesuit, indigestion, scutter, noserag and 688 more...
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Compounds That Look Freakish
You know who you are, freakish compounds. Though very useful, some of these words just don't seem right together--or, their meanings are so far from what the two (or more) component words suggest t...
nightjar, bullfinch, grassquit, bananaquit, ovenbird, waxwing, stonechat, wheatear, bushtit, wrentit, starthroat, godwit and 158 more...
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GRE list 1
Bloviate, Bacchanalia, mirth, covet, inconsequential, prescient, heresy, revelry, modality, gentrify, vitiate, tantalize and 182 more...
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bobfet1's Words
anathema, schadenfreude, sturm und drang, dadaism, serendipitous, obfuscate, kibosh, salacious, misogyny, kismet, madrasah, circumlocute and 129 more...
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From Book - SAT & College Dictionary ...
ebb, exotic, immure, abeyance, panegyric, debonair, protege, dissipate, frantic, penitent, abject, edify and 871 more...
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smart pple werdz
petard, anxiogenic, paratactic, nonce, baldachin, eugenic, conflagration, innervate, counterfactual, corpuscular, reticulate, apodictic and 93 more...
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ginnylev's Words
neuroplasticity, repudiate, scintilla, ruminate, tautology, ombudsman, exigent, filibuster, grace, ambidextrous, amends, disclosure and 623 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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What's next here?
thunderhead, thundercloud, cumulus, cumulonimbus, fibrous, hazy, glaciated, cirrus, nimbus, meteorology, fahrenheit, thermoscope and 285 more...
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gre
histrionics, flamboyant, prevarication, verbiage, shun, aphorism, pithy, terse, contemporary, vertebra, ignominy, haggle and 96 more...
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tralala's Words
arch, enigmatic, inexplicable, captivating, merry, advantageous, appropriate, compelling, alluring, wicked, inept, douse and 200 more...
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ef.rock's Words
labyrinthine, swashbuckle, inert, farcical, panopticon, sisyphean, stopgap, verisimilitude, impalpable, somnambulist, quixotic, truthiness and 7 more...
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