moratorium

New Latin from Late Latin morātōrium, noun use of the neuter of morātōrius (“moratory, delaying”), from Latin moror (“I delay”), from mora (“delay”), from Proto-Indo-European *mere (“to delay, hinder”). See also moratory.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌmɒ.ɹəˈtɔː.ɹɪ.əm/, /ˌmɔː.ɹəˈtɔː.ɹɪ.əm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌmɔ.ɹəˈtɔ.ɹi.əm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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• Hyphenation: mo‧ra‧to‧ri‧um

moratorium (plural moratoriums or moratoria)

1. (law) An authorization to a debtor, permitting temporary suspension of payments. [from 19th c.]
2. A suspension of an ongoing activity. [from 20th c.]

   Canada may put a moratorium on cloning for research.

   • 1990, Gerhard Falk, Murder, an Analysis of its Forms, Conditions, and Causes, McFarland:

     It so happened that at that time the moratorium on the death penalty caused by the Supreme Court decision in the Furman case was still in effect.

   • 2023 March 22, “Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter”, in Future of Life Institute‎^[2]:

     If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.

   • 2025 July 1, Matt Brown and Matt O'Brien, “Senate strikes AI regulatory ban from GOP bill after uproar from the states”, in AP News‎^[3]:

     Proponents of an AI moratorium had argued that a patchwork of state and local AI laws is hindering progress in the AI industry and the ability of U.S. firms to compete with China.

• (suspension of an ongoing activity): hiatus, interruption, recess; see also Thesaurus:pause

• moratory

• Moratorium on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Moratorium in the 1905 edition of the New International Encyclopedia.

• moratorie

moratorium n (singular definite moratoriet, plural indefinite moratorier)

1. (law) moratorium (authorization permitting temporary suspension of payments)
2. moratorium (suspension of an ongoing activity)

• (suspension of payments): henstand
• (suspension of an ongoing activity): stop

• “moratorium” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “moratorium” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

moratorium m (plural moratoriums)

1. moratorium

• “moratorium”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Learned borrowing from Late Latin morātōrium, noun use of the neuter of morātōrius (“moratory, delaying”), from Latin moror (“I delay”), from mora (“delay”), from Proto-Indo-European *mere (“to delay, hinder”).

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /moratoˈrium/ [mo.ra.t̪oˈri.ʊm]
• Rhymes: -um
• Syllabification: mo‧ra‧to‧ri‧um

moratorium (plural moratorium-moratorium)

1. moratorium
2. moratory

• “moratorium”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [mɔ.raːˈtoː.ri.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [mo.raˈtɔː.ri.um]
• Hyphenation: mo‧rā‧tō‧ri‧um

morātōrium

1. inflection of morātōrius:
   1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular
   2. accusative masculine singular

moratorium n (definite singular moratoriet, indefinite plural moratorier, definite plural moratoria or moratoriene)

1. moratorium

moratorium n (definite singular moratoriet, indefinite plural moratorium, definite plural moratoria)

1. moratorium

• moratorjum (pre-reform orthography (1936))

Borrowed from English moratorium. First attested in 1814.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.raˈtɔ.rjum/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔrjum
• Syllabification: mo‧ra‧to‧rium

moratorium n (related adjective moratoryjny)

1. (law) moratorium

• moratorium in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• moratorium in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “moratorjum”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861, volume I, page 679
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1902), “moratorjum”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 2, Warsaw, page 1040
• moratorium in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego
• “moratorium”, in Słownik gramatyczny języka polskiego [Grammatical Dictionary of Polish], 2022

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

moratorium n

1. moratorium (suspension of an ongoing activity)

• moratorium in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• moratorium in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)