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arrest.

A check; a stop; an act or instance of arresting something.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/əˈɹɛst/[əˈɹʷɛst]
  1. A check; a stop; an act or instance of arresting something.

    countable · uncountable
  2. The condition of being stopped, standstill.

    countable · uncountable
    cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest
  3. The process of arresting a criminal, suspect etc.

    countable · uncountable
    State police made a total of 15 drug-related arrests across the city.
  4. A confinement, detention, as after an arrest.

    countable · uncountable
  5. A device to physically arrest motion.

    countable · uncountable
  6. The judicial detention of a ship to secure a financial claim against its operators.

    countable · uncountable
  7. Any seizure by power, physical or otherwise.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  8. A scurfiness of the back part of the hind leg of a horse

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English arest (noun) and aresten (verb), from Old French areste (noun) and arester (“to stay, stop”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *arrestō, from Latin ad- (“to”) + restō (“to stop, remain behind, stay back”), from re- (“back”) + stō (“to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”), equivalent to ad- + rest. Compare French arrêter (“to stop”).

verb/əˈɹɛst/[əˈɹʷɛst]
  1. To stop the motion of (a person, animal, or body part).

    obsolete · transitive
  2. To stay, remain.

    intransitive · obsolete
  3. To stop or slow (a process, course etc.).

    transitive
  4. To seize (someone) with the authority of the law; to take into legal custody.

    transitive
    The police have arrested a suspect in the murder inquiry.
    The suspect merchant ship has been arrested by customs officers.
  5. To catch the attention of.

    transitive
  6. To undergo cardiac arrest.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English arest (noun) and aresten (verb), from Old French areste (noun) and arester (“to stay, stop”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *arrestō, from Latin ad- (“to”) + restō (“to stop, remain behind, stay back”), from re- (“back”) + stō (“to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”), equivalent to ad- + rest. Compare French arrêter (“to stop”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.