It's a stop-gap
It's a short-term solution
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Companies want their employees to take their jobs seriously and not as a STOPGAP arrangement in their climb to a better career.
(The Hindu Business Line)
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UN agrees STOP-GAP Haiti mission. The United Nations Security Council has voted to extend the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Haiti by a further 24 days.
(BBC News)
(The Hindu Business Line)
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UN agrees STOP-GAP Haiti mission. The United Nations Security Council has voted to extend the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Haiti by a further 24 days.
(BBC News)
Did you
know?
stop-gap
noun
- something intended for temporary use until something better or more suitable can be obtained
(Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)
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WORD ORIGIN
Stop-gap derives from the earlier expression to "stop a gap", a gap being an opening, a space between objects, an interruption of continuity, an imbalance or an absence of something. To "stop a gap" can then be thought of as a way to close a gap, but in more of a figurative sense. Stopgap is the noun form of this expression.
Stop-gap implies a temporary or short-term solution. It can be used as a stand-alone noun (The new budget plan is a stop-gap) or as an attributive noun, meaning it acts like an adjective to modify another noun (This budget plan is a stop-gap measure).
A stop-gap can be any measure that serves as a temporary solution or fix to something. Remember when the fan belt on the old VW Beetle ripped apart, making the engine overheat in a matter of minutes? No replacement belt handy? No problem. A trousers belt, an old T-shirt or a pair of nylon always made a great stop-gap.
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SYNONYMS
band-aid, dernier ressort, expediency, expedient, improvisation, jury-rig, makeshift, recourse, refuge, resort, resource, shift, substitute, temporary expedient
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
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ANTONYM
(attributive form)
constant, fixed, long-term, permanent, set, stable
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
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IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS TODAY
say something like:
"I don't have the solution now, but let's find a stopgap to win us some time?"
noun
- something intended for temporary use until something better or more suitable can be obtained
(Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)
---
WORD ORIGIN
Stop-gap derives from the earlier expression to "stop a gap", a gap being an opening, a space between objects, an interruption of continuity, an imbalance or an absence of something. To "stop a gap" can then be thought of as a way to close a gap, but in more of a figurative sense. Stopgap is the noun form of this expression.
Stop-gap implies a temporary or short-term solution. It can be used as a stand-alone noun (The new budget plan is a stop-gap) or as an attributive noun, meaning it acts like an adjective to modify another noun (This budget plan is a stop-gap measure).
A stop-gap can be any measure that serves as a temporary solution or fix to something. Remember when the fan belt on the old VW Beetle ripped apart, making the engine overheat in a matter of minutes? No replacement belt handy? No problem. A trousers belt, an old T-shirt or a pair of nylon always made a great stop-gap.
---
SYNONYMS
band-aid, dernier ressort, expediency, expedient, improvisation, jury-rig, makeshift, recourse, refuge, resort, resource, shift, substitute, temporary expedient
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
---
ANTONYM
(attributive form)
constant, fixed, long-term, permanent, set, stable
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
---
IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS TODAY
say something like:
"I don't have the solution now, but let's find a stopgap to win us some time?"
